Orb grouping, along with oblong shaped object, lit in white light
On the evening of Saturday, 7/10/21, I was on the 2nd-story balcony of our vacation beach condo. At around 9:30pm, looking NE, three lights caught my eye. It was their trajectory, silence, and lack of navigation lights that drew my immediate attention. They were moving west with the wind from the direction of the beach at a fair clip at about 100ft in altitude. Slightly faster than the wind speed (around 10- to 12-knots). They looked to be about 1/8- to 1/4-mile away, but it's hard to say considering I have no scale to attribute them to.
The lights were mottled white and LED-ish with multiple sources each in the general shape of an orb. The three formed an equilateral triangle shape from my perspective and dead silent. I was in a quiet area of the island, and any small airplane traffic (it's pretty common) is easily heard from long distances, and even over the din of the surf. I heard absolutely nothing coming from these things.
I chalked it up as a singular event and an unknown, but then another wave of similar objects appeared coming from the same direction. This grouping included approximately twelve objects much like, but not identical to, the first three. These were circular orb-like objects at various heights. One object was oblong and vertically oriented, and stood out as very different than the others, with the other objects of varying diameters. I fumbled for my phone to get a pic or a video, but decided otherwise (see below). As I put my phone down, another small orb at a lower altitude came hustling by from the same direction as the others. It quickly sped westward towards the other disappearing objects. Then - nothing.
I went through a check list of what these things might be. First: birds. Where I was is a major bird flyway, and I've spent a large portion of my scholastic career studying birds: these were not birds. At least not any I've ever seen.
Next: fixed wing aircraft or helicopter. With no sound or visible navigation lights, I ruled them out.
Possibly: drones. That's a solid maybe. Though I've never seen drones move this fast for what looked like miles, I'm not ruling them out. But again - silence. Not a peep, and the drones I've seen use multi colored LEDs. Also, there was a fishing tournament that weekend and drones are a VERY common component of these events. But this many? It's a hard sell.
Military/FAA: there is a naval air station about 30-miles from my sighting location, along with a large military and coast guard presence. The idea that this many airborne objects on various vectors with zero navigation lights strikes me as huge red flag. I heard, nor saw, anything airborne after the objects moved miles west of me over the bay.
Lastly: my phone. What's the point? Yet another digital record of white lights on a black back drop that could easily be CGI or some other manipulation. Bottom line is, I don't know what I saw.
On the evening of Saturday, 7/10/21, I was on the 2nd-story balcony of our vacation beach condo. At around 9:30pm, looking NE, three lights caught my eye. It was their trajectory, silence, and lack of navigation lights that drew my immediate attention. They were moving west with the wind from the direction of the beach at a fair clip at about 100ft in altitude. Slightly faster than the wind speed (around 10- to 12-knots). They looked to be about 1/8- to 1/4-mile away, but it's hard to say considering I have no scale to attribute them to.
The lights were mottled white and LED-ish with multiple sources each in the general shape of an orb. The three formed an equilateral triangle shape from my perspective and dead silent. I was in a quiet area of the island, and any small airplane traffic (it's pretty common) is easily heard from long distances, and even over the din of the surf. I heard absolutely nothing coming from these things.
I chalked it up as a singular event and an unknown, but then another wave of similar objects appeared coming from the same direction. This grouping included approximately twelve objects much like, but not identical to, the first three. These were circular orb-like objects at various heights. One object was oblong and vertically oriented, and stood out as very different than the others, with the other objects of varying diameters. I fumbled for my phone to get a pic or a video, but decided otherwise (see below). As I put my phone down, another small orb at a lower altitude came hustling by from the same direction as the others. It quickly sped westward towards the other disappearing objects. Then - nothing.
I went through a check list of what these things might be. First: birds. Where I was is a major bird flyway, and I've spent a large portion of my scholastic career studying birds: these were not birds. At least not any I've ever seen.
Next: fixed wing aircraft or helicopter. With no sound or visible navigation lights, I ruled them out.
Possibly: drones. That's a solid maybe. Though I've never seen drones move this fast for what looked like miles, I'm not ruling them out. But again - silence. Not a peep, and the drones I've seen use multi colored LEDs. Also, there was a fishing tournament that weekend and drones are a VERY common component of these events. But this many? It's a hard sell.
Military/FAA: there is a naval air station about 30-miles from my sighting location, along with a large military and coast guard presence. The idea that this many airborne objects on various vectors with zero navigation lights strikes me as huge red flag. I heard, nor saw, anything airborne after the objects moved miles west of me over the bay.
Lastly: my phone. What's the point? Yet another digital record of white lights on a black back drop that could easily be CGI or some other manipulation. Bottom line is, I don't know what I saw.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Off
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Mustang Island
USA
3-minutes
3-minutes
TX
Occurred : 7/10/2021 21:30 (Entered as : 07/10/21 21:30) Reported: 7/13/2021 10:15:19 AM 10:15 Posted: 8/16/2021 Location: Mustang Island, TX Shape: Duration: 3-minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object
Orb grouping, along with oblong shaped object, lit in white light