I'm thinking about taking up photography of nature. However I won't be needing anything professional, I'm 14 and my budget can go up to a few hundred dollars. I'll mainly be taking pictures of the sky and plants but I might get an animal every once in a while. What would be a good camera for my needs?

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any camera with both full manual focus and exposure control would be good,

I have a Canon Powershot SX110 IS It is very good I am also 14!

You may want to look at something less than this but my camera is a Nikon D3000. I usually use the telephoto zoom lens. Almost all of my photos are of nature. I have a lot of hummingbirds that like to hang out at my apartment so I have tons of photos. They are so close and detailed that you can see each tiny feather of the hummingbird. I go to the botanical gardens in my area and I've taken shots of all their gardens plus the trails through the woods. Pictures are crisp and I haven't ever had a problem getting the shot I want. It fits my hand perfectly, it's lightweight (compared to most in that class), and has all the features I want. It doesn't have video (I don't need it) and can be used as a manual camera. It's my pride and joy and I use it all the time. Do research on the camera you want. Compare prices. Decide what you want in a camera. It took me a while to find the one I wanted...it took longer to save up for it. In the end, it was all worth it.

Given your budget and desire, my vote is anything in the Canon SX series.

get the d50 one of the best nikon srl used kit for 250-300 dls off ebay this is the cheapest and one of the best picture quality like the D90 forget the d40 d60 d70 /d40 d60 are limited in some lenses the d50 uses all the af lenses d79 has some many buttons and d50 performs the same it is a lot cheaper