I am considering a refurbished Nikon D7100. However, I am concerned that I may get one with a high shutter count.

I contacted both Adorama and B&H to ask this question. Neither would say that the shutter was replaced. Adorama said that the count was zeroed, B&H said that it was not.
Any advice that I just buy a new one, or "that's what you get when you buy refurbished", or similar responses are not helpful and are not appreciated. If you have any positive viewpoint to add to this topic, I would be glad to hear it...Thanks in advance.

Just saw your post about two months late... I have an old Dynamax 8 SCT scope and use it to take Moon photos but lately I have been using my Tamron 150-600mm with double-stacked Kenko Pro TCs for moon shots... I did use my scope to take a photo of a distant chain-link fence, the bird flew away before I had it focused, just to see how it would turn out... I am wanting to use it for distant bird shots but haven't done so yet... the birds would need to be relatively stationary to get their photos... I would need to have a good vantage point to do it... I haven't had time to do it yet but hopefully I'll try some shots next year... I have a few ideas where I could go to test it out... have you done anything else with it since August?

Moisture in the air.

Most lenses are not air-tight... especially zooms. Moving the lens sucks in air that contains fungus spores. Those spores hatch inside the lens and the fungi feed off whatever they can find, creating haze.

Prevention?

Store your lenses in a container that has some type of moisture removal... ie a plastic container with packets of desiccant included. You can buy those desiccants from Amazon. I use the ones designed for hearing aids. (My youngest granddaughter is deaf. I buy her Dry Briks in bulk.) This system is a must in a humid place like Florida.