With an adaptor tube and a tele converter, you can successfully add quite a bit of usable reach to a higher quality bridge camera.
I paired a Panasonic digital Bridge Camera with an Olympus film camera's tele converter to get out to approximately a quarter mile in reach.

The top image shows the people in the far distance.
In this case, it is a "tele scenic" (not a close up). Many people overlook doing scenery with their telephoto lenses. However, they should consider this. The results can be quite different from scenery taken with a conventional wide angle lens.
In this particular case, the results are rather good with a humble bridge camera; especially considering the size of the camera and its sensor.

For me to do the same thing with my DSLR, 600mm Prime Lens, and a tele extender, I'd be working with a very HEAVY 35 pounds of camera equipment.
The image quality, of course, with the Professional level DSLR would obviously be somewhat better when blown up to poster size.
Nevertheless, I still find the Bridge Camera/Tele Converter combo respectable and quite usable. Plus the camera is ULTRA LIGHT and you don't need to drag around a tripod!!!

Draw back? As you can see in the lower image, there is vignetting until you are zoomed out past a certain point.
Being wide angle to super telephoto, the camera's fixed lens initially sees the inside of the converter tube.
However past the point of vignetting at wide angle, you still have zoom capability at the tele photo end of the lens. With a prime lens, you do not.

Notice in the bottom image that you can now even see the photo subjects at wide angle.
However when zoomed out with the tele converter, details a quarter mile away come to life.