Last week, I saw a UFO.

Up until recently, UFO sightings were things that people talked about on TV and at conventions, not something I had ever had the privilege to experience in person.

It was close to midnight, and I was staring up at the night sky from a downtown balcony. Admiring the single visible object in the nighttime sky (probably a planet, as stars usually aren’t visible from downtown) I noticed about a dozen faint glowing orbs drifting across the sky in what looked to be a coordinated formation. They made no (discernible) sound, and seemed to be moving quite rapidly, passing out of view behind a building in less than a minute. I wasn’t the only one to see them, either — meaning it probably wasn’t a hallucination. I was seeing a UFO in the truest sense of the term — this was an unidentified flying object (or unidentified flying objects).

Of course, this is where my story, being one of a skeptic, varies a bit from the norm.

My first thought was one of astonishment — it was incredible to see a dozen glowing orbs drifting effortlessly across the sky. My second thought was that there was something familiar about the formation of the orbs. I thought about what I might expect to see flying in formation over the city during the day time. I thought it might be a group of low flying planes, but the air show had ended months ago, and the fighter jets they used usually make a (somewhat) noticeable noise. That left me with one other obvious choice: birds. And sure enough, upon closer examination, some of the glowing orbs appeared to have flapping wings. What I first thought to be glowing orbs turned out to be a flock of birds, lit from below by the city lights.

Okay, so it was only technically a UFO for a little while, but the point is that with a little less examination and/or critical thought, this could have passed for any other UFO report. This is yet another reminder that people who see UFOs aren’t necessarily credulous idiots… just a little less skeptical.

I thought this would be a nice break from the constant stream of stories about H1N1 and vaccination. But just to reinforce what has already been said many, many times: go get vaccinated.