After seeing Joe's post, I had to chime in.

While watching the momentous occasion with my students, I too observed a  few
birds - via CNN's coverage!House Sparrows popped out of a bush as the cars
waited for the Obamas. Starlings and robins in background as people were
interviewed in the mall.

Then there were the birds that I could not REALLY see due to the  projector's
poor resolution with a full screen of those grand scenes of the  mall. For
instance, a gull (Ring-billed?) kept cruising over the  crowd in front of the
Capitol.

At one point, I even thought a Bald Eagle was flying high over  the south
edge of the mall (left side of screen) toward the Capitol. Again, the  resolution
was horrendous but something about the shapeless GIZZ of the  object's flight
was curious. It was a large dark object that appeared to be  "flapping" with
the right cadence. It was probably the magic of the moment  inspiring
hyper-romantic images of patriotism but it did look interesting.   Did anyone else see
it?!

Of course, I pointed out all the (real) birds to the kids in class ;  )
Dave M.
Bellmawr, NJ


In a message dated 1/20/2009 6:47:08 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

Fellow  birders,
I was watching the inauguration from my  sunroom this afternoon, when I
decided to start a new list, since we were  starting  a new era in history.
I wanted to list birds seen   during the Obama Era.  During his 18 minute
speech, I counted 14  species of birds at the feeder. The very first  was an
American  Goldfinch.  I thought that was quite appropriate.

More important than any bird I might see, I got my country  back.

Joe in the woods
Somerset, Ohio
Perry  County
USA


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