Last Two

 [White-winged Dove playing hard to get on Harvard Ave. in Cape May Point, NJ this morning.]

Okay, one day left in 2013, where to go and what to go after?  The obvious choice this morning was the White-winged Dove recently discovered on Harvard Ave. in Cape May Point, and with a bit of time and an assist, that bird was found.  On the assist, thanks go to David Bernstein, who had the right attitude and approach to search beyond the mere feeder the bird had been frequenting, to a dense pine across the street where the bird had found a perch next to the trunk. I truthfully never would have looked there, that hard, for the bird.

And a second assist goes to Michael O'Brien, who coached me by phone  to the right spot for the Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape May Point State Park, and then once I got there noted that the "indicator species," an Eastern Phoebe that was near the Ash-throated when last seen, was present and before long we had the Ash-throated in our camera lenses. Two new year birds on New Year's Eve, not bad.

Now, what to set as the birding goal for 2014?  More on that later, I think I still have a shot at Short-eared Owl. . .

[Ash-throated Flycatcher at Cape May Point State Park, NJ today.]