I live on the coast and love animals. The subjects would be seals, birds, and also forest animals. In most cases I would ideally be able to get reasonably close but sometimes from afar, like an eagle a couple hundred feet up in a tree.

I’ve been told I take great pictures, but usually these are landscape photos taken with an iPhone 13 Pro Max. I think I have a decent eye for framing (not sure if I’m using the term correctly), lighting, and I’m often opportunistic. However, I am of course a complete amateur and know nothing about proper cameras and the hobby looks quite daunting to me. I’ve been looking for a new hobby and photography never interested me much before but I’ve been getting bored and would love to be able to get out into nature more often and take some quality pictures of animals along the way.

My budget would ideally be less than $700USD, but I could be flexible.

Any advice, or resources to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated! I hope I’m in the right sub. Thank you all in advance.