Sighting in Saint-Aubin-sur-Quillebeuf, March 5, 2025

A single witness, riding a small electric off-road vehicle in the Marais Vernier area, spotted an object above some clumps of trees in late morning, around 11:45 or noon. It was round, or rather spherical, silent, with no halo or trail, and its apparent size was comparable to a handball. It was heading south, toward the sun, and then vanished behind the trees. The sighting lasted less than fifteen seconds. The witness first thought of a balloon. It was only after looking at the images from their trail camera, set up nearby, that they decided to report it: two photographs, taken on 5 March at 10:50 and on 6 March at 12:37, showed a broadly similar silhouette.

The investigation drew on a detailed technical questionnaire, a reconstruction on a map, fieldwork, and environmental and weather checks. No direct measurement of the camera's exposure time could be made, however. Two explanations were examined. A drone or lightweight craft remained speculative: nothing technical supports it, no operator was identified locally, and the silence and the propulsion raise difficulties. The explanation retained was a waterfowl of the Anatidae family, most likely a Canada goose, seen from behind or nearly so in flapping flight. The head and neck are hidden, the silhouette looks rounded, a dark back contrasts with a paler belly, and the shooting conditions can blur the wingbeats. The dimensions measured on the images match a medium to large bird, but the quality of the photographs rules out a definite identification. GEIPAN classified the case as B, probably identified.