Living at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, the sight of Chinooks are common. But, surprisingly, not during the last few weeks. Yesterday and today have made up for that, and they are flying in pairs. Wish I could track them.

This thread is HARD to keep up with... so I apologize if this next reference is a duplicate.

[link to www.sciencedaily.com]

Nov 1 Mystery of ‘Alien Pod’ Solved: Colony of Freshwater
Bryozoans
'The final consensus was that the organism is Pectinatella magnifica -- the "magnificient bryozoan."
That identification is itself somewhat surprising, as the vast majority of bryozoans -- thousands of species -- live in salt water. Marine bryozoans are common but inconspicuous filter feeders that grow in thin, encrusting colonies atop rocks, kelp blades, shellfish, and other hard objects. When the individual animals extend their tentatcles to feed, the colony takes on a fuzzy appearance, hence the bryozoans' common name of "moss animal." One study even showed that young colonies of P. magnifica can actually move on their own by coordinated pulsing of the individual animals. Although individual bryozoans are built on a simple plan -- a U-shaped gut inside a bag-like body with no lungs or gills, and no circulatory or excretory system -- they are true survivors, with a fossil record that dates back some 500 million years.'

They came up with that explanation pretty quickly. Odd that the explanation was released on Nov 1 and the sighting info was released November 2.