Shadowy lights in the shape of a bird moving across the sky rapidly.
We saw just lights and no crafts. The lights were more like shadowy shapes and were grey (sometimes changed to red) in appearance. What we saw were bird-like in shape with the width (i.e. wing span) varying in width. They generally moved across the Milky Way in approximately 5-7 seconds. They started out dim, got brighter as they passed over and then dimmed. At times they appeared stippled. They almost moved like a wave in the water. They moved in different directions across the sky. Most of the time each shadow moved in a single direction, but rarely some changed direction as they moved. Most of the time we saw one shadowy shape at a time, but occassionaly we would see two at a time moving in different directions. We saw approximately 50 during the half hour we viewed them. We were viewing the Percieds at the best time of the year and saw many shooting stars.
((NUFORC Note: We spoke with the witnesses to the event, and they seemed to us to be both sincere and quite credible. They reported that they had contacted the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, which we confirmed with personnel at that facility. The Planetarium had received "four or five" similar reports from communities in the same general area as Salem. PD))
((FOLLOW-UP COMMUNICATION WITH ANOTHER POSSIBLE WITNESS))
I am fairly certain I witnessed the same thing as reported from Salem, Utah with minor variations. The "object" had an orangish glow not red and the boomerang or v shape broke up completely two or three times to form somewhat of a circle. I was able to watch them long enough to determine with 99% certainty that what I was seeing was birds.
I called two wild bird companies to find out what kind of bird migrates at 10:30 at night or later and could "glow in the dark." I was told that the white faced ibis, for one migrates in v's, is brownish grey, and has luminescent feathers that will reflect light from the setting sun or possibly street lights. I was told also that birds migrate at night and in this situation probably from the Great Salt Lake to Utah Lake.
This is one possible explanation for what we saw. ((name deleted))
((END FOLLOW-UP))
We saw just lights and no crafts. The lights were more like shadowy shapes and were grey (sometimes changed to red) in appearance. What we saw were bird-like in shape with the width (i.e. wing span) varying in width. They generally moved across the Milky Way in approximately 5-7 seconds. They started out dim, got brighter as they passed over and then dimmed. At times they appeared stippled. They almost moved like a wave in the water. They moved in different directions across the sky. Most of the time each shadow moved in a single direction, but rarely some changed direction as they moved. Most of the time we saw one shadowy shape at a time, but occassionaly we would see two at a time moving in different directions. We saw approximately 50 during the half hour we viewed them. We were viewing the Percieds at the best time of the year and saw many shooting stars.
((NUFORC Note: We spoke with the witnesses to the event, and they seemed to us to be both sincere and quite credible. They reported that they had contacted the Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, which we confirmed with personnel at that facility. The Planetarium had received "four or five" similar reports from communities in the same general area as Salem. PD))
((FOLLOW-UP COMMUNICATION WITH ANOTHER POSSIBLE WITNESS))
I am fairly certain I witnessed the same thing as reported from Salem, Utah with minor variations. The "object" had an orangish glow not red and the boomerang or v shape broke up completely two or three times to form somewhat of a circle. I was able to watch them long enough to determine with 99% certainty that what I was seeing was birds.
I called two wild bird companies to find out what kind of bird migrates at 10:30 at night or later and could "glow in the dark." I was told that the white faced ibis, for one migrates in v's, is brownish grey, and has luminescent feathers that will reflect light from the setting sun or possibly street lights. I was told also that birds migrate at night and in this situation probably from the Great Salt Lake to Utah Lake.
This is one possible explanation for what we saw. ((name deleted))
((END FOLLOW-UP))
No
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Yes
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Off
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Salem
USA
2330
2330
40.01
-111.60
other
UT
Occurred : 8/12/2002 23:00 (Entered as : 08/12/02 2300) Reported: 8/14/2002 8:24:36 PM 20:24 Posted: 9/6/2002 Location: Salem, UT Shape: Other Duration: 2330 Characteristics: The object changed color
Shadowy lights in the shape of a bird moving across the sky rapidly.