I've always been a enthusiastic birdwatcher and nature lover and have decided to buy a new camera,probably a digicam.I've listed a few ive been looking up and wondered if anyone had 1st hand knowledge of using any of them for photographing wild birds,or any general advice as to wether ther's a pick of the bunch or ones to steer well clear of.Obviously i'd like decent quality pictures near and far and maybe stability if my hands decide they arent as steady as they should be lol,i'd also prefere not to buy additional lenses so one thats a sorta semi-decent all rounder would be awesome..Not asking for much am i 
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Fuji finepix S8000 8.3m pixel digital camera
Fuji S9600 Finepix 9m pixel digital fixed lens SLR-shape camera
Fuji finepix S5700 7m pixel digital camera
Sony DSCH3B-CEH 8.1m pixel digital camera
Canon powershot A650 12.1m pixel digital camera
Olympus E410 10m pixel digital SLR camera
Olympus SP560 8m pixel digital camera
Nikon D40 6.1m pixel digital SLR camera
Kodak Z710 7m pixel digital camera
Kodak ZD710 7.1m pixel digital camera
Respect and thankyou for your time.
Many consider the Panasonic FZ18 the best digital non-DSLR for bird photography. Check out the threads discussing it in the Panasonic forum. You might also want to check out this thread of mine: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=102876
Cheers,
Jim
A compact camera whilst being a good choice will limit things a little. If you're serious about getting into photography, buy the D40 and gradually build your kit up and then replace the body when you move onto a higher level so to speak.
If you really don't want an SLR then I've got no idea cos I haven't used a compact in years!
Good luck with the search.
The best advice you can have is to go to a store, play with them all and find which one you feel most comfortable with.