You will need to give us a price range. Point and shoot cameras range from $50 to over $1000.
There are virtually dozens of good ones to choose from and all of them may be set on full auto to make it simple. Do you want something with a good zoom range or just your basic cheap little pocket camera?
You were very lucky to have two breeding pairs in the same area. Pileated Woodpeckers are very territorial and a single breeding pair usually occupies a territory of at least 100 acres. At my little place in the woods, I hear them quite often but rarely ever see them or get the opertunity to photograph them. You got some really nice photos...
When I put a camera back in its case I remove the battery to charge it. When the battery is charged, I return the charged battery to the case. The battery goes back in the camera when the camera is removed from the case. Backup batteries are stored in the miscellaneous parts case along with backup batteries for speedlites. Speedlights and their batteries are stored in the speedlite case. Speedlite batteries are removed for charging and returned to their own cases once charged to be returned to the speedlight case.
You obviously know what you are doing so I'm not going to insult you by explaining anything technical about exposure.
I use Aperture Priority mode when I want to control the background and have ample light to either pick a specific ISO or let the camera do it, and I know the camera is not going to give me a shutter speed that will result in a blurred image. This way I can concentrate more on what I'm doing and spend less time turning dials on the camera. If timing is not an issue I usually shoot manual but, to be honest, I didn't spend thousands of dollars on top shelf cameras just to show them off. I bought high end gear because I can trust them to work, and that they do...
Hello and welcome to the forum.
In my opinion, they are all very good photographs, very pleasing to the eye and for me, fun to look at. I've spent a lot of time in wooded gorges in the Watkins Glen area in New York and I understand the lighting conditions you had to work with. The colors all look close to what I'd expect to see if maybe a wee bit over saturated, but I like that. The last one I would have used a polarizer to keep the open sky in line but I still enjoy the photo. Overall, I say you did an awesome job with both the photography and the post processing and I'm sure they will look even better as large prints.
Nice shot of the ROUS (rodent of unusual size)
I'm not sure if you said you made a mistake by buying an APS-C body but if you feel that way from what you have read here, you are quite mistaken. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a crop sensor body and in some aspects, they perform better than a full frame. Your 80D is a technologically advanced camera compared to DSLR'S that were made just a few years ago. The DIGIC 6 processor does an excellent job handling electric noise. The concept that you can't make prints larger than letter size from a newer generation APS-C sensor image is nonsense.
I own both full frame and crop frame cameras. One of my 1.6 crop bodies is the 80D. One of my full frame cameras is the 5DSR, with more than twice the resolution of the 80D. Guess which one I use more often?!
There are several EF-S lenses that are well built and have excellent optics. They may not be built to L series standards, but they are very good lenses none the less. There are also good buys on eBay for older discontinued L series lenses. Also, Tamron is replacing many of their original SP series lenses with G2 versions, driving down the price on good used Tamron lenses. A good lens to have is the EF 24-105 f/4L IS, and with the growing popularity of the version II lens, you should be able to find a decent used one for around $500. That may sound like a lot but, it's a very versatile lens and it's less than your 80D cost.
Makes for interesting effects.
All three lenses are very good lenses. The difference between them at an image level is almost negligible. My recommendation is to consider the cost and warranty of the three lenses. The one that gives you the best warranty and has a reasonable price is the one to go with, and that would be the Tamron.
Although the images are only as good as the screen they're viewed on, and I'm using my POC Dell laptop at the moment, in my opinion they look very nice, very nice indeed, plenty sharp and lots of detail.
Canon's 24-70 f/4L IS USM is a really good lens and with the stabilization, you can shoot at amazingly slow shutter speeds and still get really good images, plus it's a lot less expensive than the f/2.8 lens. Since I already had the older EF 28-70 f/2.8L, when I considered buying the 24-70 f/2.8L II, I instead got the EF 24-70 f/4L and the 100 f/2.8L macro, both with IS, for the cost of the EF 24-70 f/2.8L II, and since I already had the 16-35 F/2.8L, I have 16 to 70 mm at f/2.8 covered.
It happened to me once, at the Philadelphia flower show several years ago. My SD card went full and I forgot to grab a spare on my way out the door. I had to buy one at the flower show at more than double what the card would have cost most anywhere else. I now always carry a spare CF, SD and XQD card in my wallet. Good thing they are small.