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raptrlvr:

Nikon D200, excellent camera that you can't go wrong with. There are many different cameras out there and everyone will have thier own opinion about the quality of each one. The only thing I can say to you is go to a camera shop and actually handle the cameras before you buy one. I liked the feel of the Nikon D200 over the Canon 30D, so, I bought the Nikon.

raptrlvr,

      Your Nikon D200 camera must be one of the best available, because you have posted some of the best photos I have ever seen!! They are of National Geographic quality! I'm sure your skill has something to do with it, also!!

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We did not inherit Mother Earth from our ancestors...... we have borrowed Her from our descendants.
Chief Seattle (paraphrased)

I have avoided posting Camera and equipment for obvious reasons on this thread... as there are pictures presented on Whatbird that are terrific... sometimes the pictures are taken with less expensive cameras and that is a great thing.  Birding and bird identification is the driving force on this website.  Several people have posted their cameras of choice and that is I guess a good thing based on the original request of this thread. 

I use the Nikon D2x with 12.4 MP and for bird photography I usually use the 70-200mm Vibration reduction 2.8 with a 2.0 multiplier.  Without getting into technical terms and arguments about sensors ... this lens and camera equate to a 600mm lens... without the weight.  There are Canon lovers and Nikon Lovers ... and indeed many brands that all take good photos.  The camera when I bought it was about $5500.00 and the lens was about $1700.00.  Huge money.  Some of the bird photos that I have taken are acceptable quality... some are only of "Identification" quality... as seen in my recent post sequence of "World Birding"

Great Photos of birds are rare and saleable because people love them.... and love birds.

I post here a picture that I took in Greece of a Gull... and a blow up to zoom in.  This picture prints with resolution on a poster of 4 feet by 3 feet.  A difficult challenge for a point and shoot camera.  I reduce the resolution on this posting to preserve Copyright... and unauthorized printing.

Fraser

A blowup to show the detail... also reduce in resolution...

oh  my goodness.  i never expected so many responses!  my head is spinning.  i have been looking over the responses and it seems its just gonna be what ever i can afford and what "feels" right when i hold it.  I am so thankful to all who replied.  I have decided to go with a point and shoot for now.   If I can figure out how cameras work maybe i'll go on to something a little more advanced.  I am also considering taking a photography class at my local juco.   I will probably look into that before making such an important purchase.   again thank you all!

Thanks for the compliment Bird Brain. I am strictly an amatuer in photography. When I take the camera out, I usually shoot over 100 pic's a day every day. Every once in a while, I get lucky with a decent photo. The Nikon D200 is a  middle of the road camera in the Nikon series. I couldn't afford the top of the line camera in either the Canon or the Nikon. The lenses that I have are also middle of the road and not very fast. I would love to be able to afford a nice 300mm f2.8, but, I am retired and don't have the $3500 to $4000 bucks for that lens. The set up I have with the Nikon D200 and the 70-300mm VR lens is something that we all can afford with just a little savings. This set up is probably gonna cost about $1500 to $1700 for the whole package, maybe less. The cameras they have out there now a days its just about impossible to go wrong with any brand. The main thing wether you use a point and shoot or a DSLR is to get out there and take the picture and don't be afraid to post the shots. I have a couple thousand shots on my computer taken with my old FujiFilm S7000 point and shoot that are decent photo's.

While I love the dslr and I wouldn't go back for anything, it does make great sense to start out with a "good" point and shoot.  There are a lot of web resources that will rate these cameras and rate them for varying circumstances.  Really good point and shoots are not a lot of cash and get as much as you can afford.

Once you are able to go the dslr route, if that is what you want, the cash outlay can be fairly large (relatively).  However, top line cameras and lenses hold their value very well.  I recently sold two decent (not great lenses) on ebay for about 90% of their new value and I see cameras similar to mine selling in that range, too.

One thing is for sure, birding is very difficult photography, particularly birds in flight. You can never have a long enough lens