If you're looking for a really nice and almost cheap birding camera you won't have to hock the farm for, look into the Nikon Coolpix P900. Just bought one for my upcoming Papua trip, and it's badass. 83x magnification (equivalent to a four thousand mm lens, half of that from optics), and a really astounding image stabilizer make for a great birding companion. Decent wide-angle also can. Of course, it has a birding mode (low light settings plus continuous shooting at 7 fps). All that for about USD 500 (five hundred) If only it shot RAW...but maybe they'll add that with the next model in May, which will have 120x magnification

Examples below. The Black-thighed Falconets (world's smallest raptors) were shot freehand at 83x magnification.

Red-crowned Barbet


Black-thighed Falconets


Bornean Brown Barbet

Haha, did you see my same day post directed to Brian Hubbs? Great minds think alike!

OK, thought I would direct this post to Mr. Brian Hubbs, since he is solely at fault for making me spend a fair amount of money . Ever since you answered my question about what camera you were using for your exceptional bird photos I've been studying the Coolpix zooms. Well, 2 days ago, after much online research and reading many reviews/pros and cons, I bit the bullet and purchased the Coolpix P900. I haven't even had a chance to play with it much at all yet, but I can only hope I get results like yours. Trouble is, I've NEVER learned/used any post editing software - might have to get into that . Actually the P900 doesn't offer RAW, so I may be screwed there anyway? I'll post some pics when I get the opportunity. The 83X zoom just stole my heart... Should be a good addition to my D300s and assorted lenses.

Ha! No way!!!

Way!! lol....