I have a Sony NEX-6 and a Sony A55. My brother has a Nikon D7000. All three cameras have the same sensor manufactured by Sony. What is different is each manufacturer has their own software for processing what the sensor captures. My brother swears he gets better results on his Nikon. I am not convinced. We both agree that the results are better than we had before with our camera's predecessors.

The Nikon 105 which several people have suggested is an excellent lens. But the Tamaron 90mm F2.8 http://www.tamron.com/en/photolens/di_macro/272e.html is also very good and cheaper than the Nikon.

I am sure he meant "anecdote". I am all for friendly corrections. but please, no grammar police here.

Just to open up the conversation I will propose another option. first of all let me state that Canon and Nikon both make great camera's. That said, I am a former Nikon user who is now using
Sony cameras. Consider a Sony NEX 3,5,6 or 7 and you can still use all your Canon lenses with an adapter.

Lightroom does 90% of what a photographer needs. In Lightroom you can adjust exposure, white balance, color adjustments etc. You can also do spot removal, perspective correction and so on. You can easily do dodging and burning with the radial adjustment tool. You can even remove unwanted objects. The only thing that Lightroom does not do is layers and things like background removal. For those needs there are many options to add to your Lightroom workflow. First up is Photoshop Elements but there are also programs from OnOne software, Nik and Corel. I stopped using Photoshop because Lightroom does everything I need 90 percent of the time. I have a few programs for the other 10% and do not have any need to subscribe to the Adobe cloud.

It is true that the electronic viewfinder is expensive. I have one on my NEX-5n and it never comes off. I use this viewfinder 90% of the time and love it.

You must go back a ways. My first camera was also a rangefinder, an Argus C3 that was my dad's. But about 1968 I moved up to an Exacta SLR. As far as EVF's go I agree that many of them fall short. That said I think the oled viewfinder on my Sony Nex-6 is great. I would take this EVF over any SLR. I have the same oled EVF as an optional accessory on my Sony Nex-5n and I love the way I can angle it up for waist high shots.

I happily used SLR's for 40 years. Two years ago I went mirrorless and I have no plans to go back. What I love about the EVF is that it shows me exactly what sensor is going to capture. The eye can see a much wider range of exposure than the sensor can. In an optical viewfinder I can see better in the shadows and highlights than the sensor.
With a high quality electronic viewfinder I can see how much detail their is in the shadows and highlights there is and can adjust to get what I want.

The focus speed depends on the amount of light and lens in use as well as the camera in use. That said I generally find that my NEX-6 focuses as fast or faster than any Nikon I have used or my Sony A55. The NEX-6 has a hybrid focus system that uses both phase detection and contrast. My NEX-5N which has contrast auto focus system is very speedy in good light on most subjects. But like most cameras it can have difficulty in low light conditions. I will also note that when using Sony A-mount lenses on the NEX-5n with the EA-2 adapter focusing is also fast as that adapter adds phase detection auto focus.

These are just my impressions and not based on any side by side comparisons.

I can certainly relate to your not wanting to move to the Nex system if you have an investment in Alpha lenses. I had a few thousand dollars invested in Nikon lenses when I bought my NEX-5n. Now I have moved up to the NEX-6 and have sold all my Nikon lenses. There are a number of reasons I love the NEX system. The best electronic viewfinder on the market. I used to take a picture and then look at the picture to see if the exposure is right for the details in the shadows etc. Now I can see the effect of the exposure before I take the picture and adjust accordingly. The I love the focus peaking feature when the auto focus is not giving me what I want. And I love that I have a camera that will fit in a coat pocket and still give me the results I look for.

Rattlesnakes are important. Without them the rodent population would explode. Rattlesnakes are not aggressive and will only attack if cornered or surprised.

I have several Sony camera's and lots of lenses both A mount and E mount. I have the Sony Nex-6 and that is my primary camera. When I want to use an A-mount lens on this camera I use the Sony EA-2 adapter. This adapter gives you full auto-focus and all the auto-exposure modes. The one and only thing that is missing is OSS optical stabilization. This is because in the A mount DSLR's the stabilization is built into the body, but in NEX mirrorless cameras it is built into the E-mount lenses. For those cases when I want to use an A mount lens with OSS I purchased a used Sony A55 on ebay for $265. Now I can travel small and light with my NEX system, but for those areas like long telephoto where I need to use A mount lenses with OSS I go with the A55.
Of the current Sony models consider starting with NEX 3N for E-Mount or if you want A mount consider the A58. Both are reasonably priced entry level models.
To build your lens collection look to Ebay for Minolta lenses. Many great lenses are available at great prices. Minolta lenses work on the Sony A mount cameras without an adapter or on the NEX cameras with the Sony adapter listed above.
As to the person that said to look at Canon or Nikon I would say that both companies make great cameras. But as a former Nikon owner I have completely converted to Sony and am very happy.

One factor is to consider how you are going to use it between shooting photos. As suggested here many models have several sections so they can collapse to just a few inches when not in use. Another approach is to get a monopod that only has 1 or 2 sections and is about 4 or 5 feet long. The advantage in this is that it can be used as a sturdy walking stick when the camera is not attached. I use this approach in conjunction with a quick realease adapter so I can quickly attach or unattach my camera. This setup is especially good when hiking on uneven terrain.

I have both of those books and they are excellent. A third book to consider is "Adobe Lightroom 5 The Missing FAQ" by Victoria Bampton.
Scott Kelby's book is great if you want a step by step tutorial on how to do post processing in Lightroom.
Martin Evening's book is the most comprehensive guide. This is the book if you really want to get into the details of each process.
Victoria Bampton's book is great if you want a reference where you can look up answers on any part of the process.

By default Lightroom will import all of the photos on the card and will create a folder for each date. All of the default actions can be changed by you at the time of import.
Lightroom will show you the pictures it will import and you can at that time deselect any you do not want to import.
If your concern is about reimporting photos then make sure that do not import duplicates is on and only the new pictures will be imported.
YouTube has videos that can take you through this process.