Hello @warrior-princess!
Thank you for your kind words! 🙂 And I think that your photos are beautiful as well. 🙂
Yes, IS is pretty important, especially for telephoto lenses. One thing that I just remembered is that I might have used a monopod when taking some of those pictures. It was very helpful since the lens had no IS.
There is a 70-300mm lens with IS, however is a quite a bit pricier. I was able to find one used at a very reputable local camera store.
I think that this is the one, but I am not entirely sure. I haven’t ever bought anything used from B&H, so I am not necessarily recommending to buy this exact one. Just wanted to show you what is out there!
I believe that I have the same lens (18-55). I haven’t played around with it much…and it is a bit scratched, unfortunately. But it is really cool to see the pictures that you take with it!
55mm is very short to try and photograph wildlife! I hope that you find something that fits in your budget.
-Anastasia
P.S. I love your dog’s name!