On Friday, while everyone else was hurrying around my home county,
watching bird species I have never seen before, I was down in DC
with family.  
   At the WW II Memorial, a Bald Eagle provided spectacular views,
soaring for over twenty minutes over Constitution Gardens and
the WW II Memorial itself.  Many in the crowd noticed, and several
people filmed it.  At times, it flew low enough that even without
binocs, I was able to see that while it had a white head, it had
a lot of white flecks on its underwing coverts, and its tail 
feathers were edged with black.  
   At one point, while it was wowing the crowd, it was attached by
an adult Red-tailed Hawk.  This also was noticed by many.  Finally,
another white-headed individual passed from west to east, high above
the Memorial.  
   Later, as we walked between Lafayette Square and the White House,
2 Red-tails, and adult and an immature, flew into the grounds of the
White House.  My family was quite impressed, though some suggested
that the eagle show might have been staged by the National Park Service!

                                              Jim

Jim Felley
Smithsonian Institution