Sighting in Villars-les-Dombes, October 20, 2024

At around 8:15 pm, the witness was at home watching the sky to follow comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas. They noticed a dark shape made up of several identical, blurry points of light, which looked to them like a patch of hazy, starry sky. The whole thing moved without a sound along a straight, steady, regular path from north-northwest to south-southeast. The witness used a monocular for a closer look but could make out no further detail. After about 30 seconds, the phenomenon disappeared behind the roof of a neighbouring house.

The GEIPAN rated the case's consistency as medium to low, since there was only one witness and no photo or video. Three explanations were examined. Starlink-type satellites were ruled out because the paths of the units that could have been visible did not match. Luminous balloons were also rejected, as winds at ground level and at altitude blew in a direction very different from the reported path. A flock of birds with light underparts emerged as the strongest explanation: at the likely distance, the eye cannot make out the birds' shape or any wingbeat; heavy light pollution along the flight path could reflect diffusely off pale plumage; the regular, straight movement fits birds in transit; several local white-plumaged species are active at dusk as they head to their roosts; and the direction of travel points toward a large bird park housing over 3,000 birds of 600 species. The case was classified B: very probably birds in transit flight.