I am not a fan of bridge cameras, and many don't have an optical veiw-finder. The mega 'reach' of all in one lens is also often a double edged sword, they are too slow on aperture, and at long zoom settings, holding small, distance subject in the frame near impossible with lighter camera, held at arms length to compose on the screen. My O/H had exactly this problem with her Nikon bridge, especially trying to take photo's of birds in trees.
Borrowing my daughters D3100 SLR, she actually found its NOT all 'that'cumbersome, its a very compact body, and o harder to lug about than the bridge, that is certainly 'not' compact. Optical view-finder, helped her with (atrocious!) had holding... but.... given my 55-300 less to play with, back to her 'problem', with that much 'zoom' of actually finding and holding small birdlike subject in the frame....
There's no such thing as a free-lunch as they say... you pays your money and takes your chances..... A-N-D if she wants half decet photo's of bids, then, as so much n photography, she wont get it from the camera catalog, it is in the discipline and diligence of the pursuit, and for birds, so much in the bird-spotting skills, of patience, and stalking, and knowing where to look, that NO camera will do for any-one!
I would suggest, that if she wants to be able to just walk into a field, or see a bird out of the dining room window and have a camera that will 'just' get the picture she imagines, by point and press, you are both on a high-road to know-where.
I would, be tempted to put a D3x00 in her hands, as they are such a compact body camera, and tell her that IF she wants decent bird shots, she will have to carry it, and I would likely also lave her grumbling about the size of subject in her shots after, from a conservative, probably kit zoom, and poiting out that at least she HAS a subject in the frame!
As said, I have loaned my O/H the 55-300 or even the old M42 300 ad tele-converters for mega 'reach', and she has come back grumbling about the fact she got great shots of branches no-where near where the bird was, as she'd not been able to frame on it! also shown her how to 'crop' high resolution dig-files to get closer framing and more effectve 'zoom'.. for her to moan about the degree of pixilation when she has.... its a no-win situation! And bottom line is that ts a tricky subject, and f you don't put in the up-front effort you wont get pleasant results, like shooting people with a smart-phone at parties!
I really suspect, that you don't need to change her camera, you need to change her thinking, and expectations, and a bridge camera is likely not a good solution for much in this situation. The more compact D3x00 Nikons, may be worth while way to go not being 'so' inherently compromised, and still being very P&S friendly, BUT without the discipline to learn the trade, as said so much in the stalking and nature know-how before you even pick up a camera, its the know-how that is the key to eve moderate sucess.... you dot get owt for nowt.. and you only get not as much as you are prepared to put in, there's no such thing as a free-lunch!
Having done it, and supported woman's aspirations to 'get into' this photography lark, and take photos of wild-life and birds; I am very sangune about the matter, AND I really would't be all that keen to indulge that aspiration to half a grand sort of prce tag, JUST to get the grief that it STILL doesn't do what she wants it to, and be blamed for her 'failures' along the rote to the camera being chucked on top of a wardrobe, and blamed for being 'No-Help'.... Hey! There are shelves I haven't put up, I can be blamed for for much less money or effort!
and much higher res VF
