2021-06-09 - Bainbridge Island, WA - Sphere

Small White Round Object No Wings, Tail, or Rotor

On Wednesday afternoon, June 9, 2021, from my office in Winslow on Bainbridge Island, I noticed out the window a hawk hunting. It slowly circled over the complex across the street and then circled a bit north as a crow came from the east and dove at it. I went outside to watch. As I did,a tiny white object caught my eye. The object was east and a bit south of the birds, but much further away and higher in elevation. It was flying from south to north and maintained its speed, direction, and elevation. It was white or looked white against the blue sky and appeared round. I could not identify what it was. It had no tail, no wings, no prop, no rotor, and I did not hear any sound from it. I saw no other color except white and looked but could not see any lights, appendage, or anything on it. It did not emit anything, no exhaust, smoke, light, and didn’t leave anything either, like a condensation trail. I looked to see if anything else was flying near it, but! I did not see anything. I watched for as long as I could see it but eventually it became difficult to see. I lost sight of it as it went further north and faded from view. I looked for them, after, but could not spot the hawk and crow. Unfortunately, I had left my phone inside, so I did not get photos or video.

Perhaps a minute or two after my sighting, a small commuter plane flying southeast to northwest flew overhead but it was closer to me and much lower in elevation than the white object had been.

Afterward, I made sure to note the time and estimated that I probably watched the object, all total, for not quite a minute from probably 2:14 to 2:15pm PDST. I checked and the Flightradar24 app and it shows no return for the east side of Bainbridge Island or over Puget Sound to the east of Bainbridge in its radar record, for 2:14 – 2:15pm. I took a screen capture of the 2:14pm radar map. The next radar return that would be visible from my front yard (2:17pm) is the commuter plane that I saw about a minute or two after I lost sight of the object. The commuter was Maverick Airlines Flight APC 690 in a Cessna 208B Grand Canyon flying from Boeing Field, Seattle to Port Angeles at 3800 feet, flying at 153 kts. ground speed when it was overhead, according to the same app. I captured this too.

At 2:14pm PDST, the approximate time of my sighting, the conditions on my street on Bainbridge Island, Washington were approximately 61° F, sunny, and blue skies. Some low clouds passed overhead during the day, but none were visible at the time of the sighting and there was no wind. It was mild and there was only blue sky.

I checked but the Heavens Above website’s database of all satellites’ flight paths, online, shows no satellites (of any kind) flying over my location from 2pm to 3pm, June 9, 2021.

If I had not happened to go outside to watch the hawk and crow, and if they had not been where they were in the sky, relative to me, I never would have noticed or had reason to notice the object. Nothing would have drawn my attention to it.

The small white object could have been a drone, but its speed was impressive for its small size and lack of exhaust.

I still do not know what it was.