2000-01-23 - Rio Rancho, NM - Sphere

Black object hanging in the sky possible cause of geese flock disappearance

This was a dark or black sphere shaped object that was hanging about 200 ft above the Rio Grande river near Albuquerque. I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of where I was working at the time, eating a snack and waiting to clock in to work, when I noticed a flock of geese circling above the river just behind the building where I worked. They were in their usual "V" shaped formation but instead of flying off into the distance, they appeared to be confused as to what direction to go. They seemed to be concerned because they were not making their usual honking while traveling sounds, instead the sounds where different, more high pitched and stressfull. I watched them circle and listened to their cries for 4-5 minutes, then as I was reaching over to the passenger seat for the other half of my sandwich, the sounds stopped. I took a bite, a sip of my drink and intended to resumed my observation, but the geese were gone, dissapeared within the 10-15 seconds that I looked away. I got out of my car immediatly and looked all around the sky to see where they may have decided to fly off to, but they had dissapeared altogether. The last time I saw them they were circling above the parking lot, not enough time for them to fly out of sight or to land at the Rio Grande river a quarter mile away. This was very strange, and I was in disbelief that they could have vanished. As I was still searching for the lost geese I noticed a dark, round object hanging above the river south of my position and about a mile away. I guessed it to be 10-15 feet in diameter and about 200 ft above the Rio Grande River. At first I thought it to be a large balloon tied to a string because it seemed to move a bit from side to side and up and down, but then I realized that if it were tied down and the wind was pushing against it, the movement would be in the shape of an arc, this was not. It seemed to be trying to maintain a particular position drifting +/- 15 to 20 ft on a horizontal or verticle plane. Two hours later and just before su! nset whi le on my first work break, I went back outside and it was still there. I pointed it out to someone else who confirmed it, but expressed no curiosity about what it might be.

In conclusion: I am thinking that this hanging object may have caused a kind of navigation problem for the geese, causing their stress and confusion. But because of their dissappearance, it may have opened or closed a gateway in time or place. The geese may have been traveling in one place or time, and then suddenly emerged from or vanished into another.

Second Sighting: I had nearly forgot about that sighting until I saw it again, this time in Oak Ridge nearly three years later. It was the first week in June 2002 about an hour before sunset. This time it was a little further away, maby a mile and a half and floating about the same hight above the ground as before, which I guess to be about 200 ft. It had the same characteristics as before of drifting on a horizontal and verticle plane, and not in an arc which would suggest it was tied to string or rope. I watched it for 30 mins or so in its stationary position, but as the sun began to set I noticed the object getting smaller and smaller, and believed that it was now moving further away from me in a northern direction. Finally it was so small I could no longer see it in the dim light of dusk.