Hi Mick
Photographing birds and wildlife in general can be the most rewarding and at the same time the most frustrating type of photography. The subject rarely if ever poses, never appears where you want or expect and never stays for long enough for us in the position/place we want them!
I hope you continue to enjoy your hobby and your photos get better with practice - for what it's worth here's my thoughts on your question.
It is easy to get carried away and constantly acquire equipment on the premis that good photo's will naturally follow. Whilst I can't profess to having used an FZ30, my understanding is this camera is fitted with a 12x optical zoom which is quite powerful. To achieve the same with a dSLR would require significant expense on lenses.
I know on some of the Panasonics there is also an antishake system, which if it's fitted to the FZ30 should help when your not using a tripod.
Gadgets aside, the first thing to look at is technique, in your own words your a beginner to photography, so the first key step is to get experience. Use this forum, post some pictures and ask for feedback, you'll find all here extremely supportive. Consider with each posting describing what you hoped to achieve from the image and request technique advice on how to achieve it.
You mention walking all day and with a tripod, I assume from this your walking and taking photo's as birds appear in arround you? Whilst you can achieve some success with this, perhaps you should consider finding an appropriate place, sitting down and letting the wildlife come to you - dressed in non bright clothing, with your back against a tree sitting for hours, providing in an area frequented by birds, you'll be amased just how close some of them will come given time.
Hope this helps.
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