I am a DOS member, but only read the reports and chat, don't usually contribute.  However, yesterday, after reading about the kite at Ashland and various other reports of far off birds that look a lot like other birds I, too, started thinking again about a new spotting scope.  As I was also thinking about going to Cape May, I started checking around in the N.J. Audubon and Cape May Observatory web sites.  There I came across a stunningly good article about things to consider when buying a spotting scope.  Here is the link:

http://featheredgeoptics.com/considerscopes.htm

I believe that feather edge optics is the outlet for optical equipment at the Cape May Observatory.  At the Cape May Observatory website, there is also a reivew of the new zoom wide angle scope by Leica ....very, very expensive- it is reviewed and compared with other top of the line scopes by Peter Dunne.

have fun,

Mary Ann Levan