2010-04-25 - Duncan, BC - Unknown

Full daylight/sun, reflective silvery object w/dark appendage rising in air over lake

I'm sure this will not be your most significant report of the week, as it will be hard to come to any conclusion and easy to dismiss (could have been a misidentification), but today around 4:15pm here on Vancouver Island - a few kms NE of the small city of Duncan, in the Dist. of N. Cowichan more precisely, during sunny weather with only a few clouds and maybe a high haze, while I was driving down Kingsview Rd from 'The Properties' on the W slope of Mt Tzuhalem, as I approached the bottom where it comes to a T with Maple Bay Rd, I spotted something small in the air somewhere over Quamichan Lake, maybe 1km away I estimate.

It was reflecting the sun (to the upper left) and had some sort of dark attachment, either above or below it - I'm sorry I can't remember clearly as I only saw it for a few secs.. but it was rising quickly. As you would expect, my mind was racing thru the various possibilities as to ID - small helicopter/plane or model of such.. mylar balloon, etc - none seemed to fit. (If it were a plane, model or real, I think I would have seen wings.) I could not pull over to watch it as there was traffic behind me and no room to pull over, not to mention going down steep hill, so as I descended toward the main Rd I lost sight of it behind the trees along that road. But just seconds later, after turning onto that rd in the short merge lane I found I had a clear view out over the lake, and there were no longer any vehicles behind me, so I could pull over and try to relocate it. The only trees were now to my far left, but pretty open view otherwise. There was nothing to be seen in the sky. It had to have hightailed it out of there pretty fast to disappear like that. When I saw it I could see it against Mt Prevost in the background (beyond the lake and on the other side of Hwy 1), which provided good contrast to see the obj. Some of its rapid upward motion could have been caused by my decent, but I'm sure that effect only added to its real motion.

I could not figure out why I could no longer see it anywhere around, after only a few seconds. I wondered if the power line crossing the main rd over to Kingsview had been reflecting the sun as I came down, viewing it almost end-on. So I got back in my car and spun around to go back up the hill and down again to recreate the effect, but the power line was too low to have caused it. There goes that theory.. I'm quite certain it was out over the lake, maybe 1km from me, almost level with my line of sight and the Mtn in the background, but quickly rising. It had to be very shiny to reflect the sun like that, but couldn't have been very large - no bigger than a small helicopter. So it still could have been something mundane like that but even with choppers you can usually see them flying away in 1 direction or other, they can't move that fast! Hope this is detailed enough considering the banality of the sighting as compared with others, but it was actually my first sighting in 34yrs of life and felt I should report it. Wish it could be less vague.