PR101 and other Birds in the PURSUE UFO files.

[flarkey]

This one appears to show birds a crescent shaped craft like Kenneth Arnold saw near Mount Rainier in 1947.

https://www.war.gov/UFO/?releaseDat...01-Unresolved-UAP-Report-South-China-Sea-2024

 

[RobertBillyBob]

This one appears to show birds
a crescent shaped craft like Kenneth Arnold saw near Mount Rainier in 1947.

https://www.war.gov/UFO/?releaseDat...01-Unresolved-UAP-Report-South-China-Sea-2024

View attachment 91955

People have been dismissing the bird hypothesis because of the formation that is not V-shaped enough in their opinion.
If we can compare with PR016 which was resolved as birds, we see flattish formations are possible :
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/988673/pr-016-resolved-birds-europe-2023

 

[RobertBillyBob]

Some data can be recovered from PR101 redacted areas.

 

[brasco]

People have been dismissing the bird hypothesis because of the formation that is not V-shaped enough in their opinion.

Yes, and we can find plenty of footage and images of birds in a line, usually one side of the V or a very asymmetrical one.

 

[Fritzkquzerk]

This one appears to show birds a crescent shaped craft like Kenneth Arnold saw near Mount Rainier in 1947.

https://www.war.gov/UFO/?releaseDat...01-Unresolved-UAP-Report-South-China-Sea-2024

View attachment 91955

I think these are unambiguously birds.

 

[igoddard]

People have been dismissing the bird hypothesis because of the formation that is not V-shaped enough in their opinion.
If we can compare with PR016 which was resolved as birds, we see flattish formations are possible :
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/988673/pr-016-resolved-birds-europe-2023

View attachment 91957

Based on apparent background information, those lines of dots in PR106 appear to be moving from the camera's left to right against the background.

Back in March, I recorded these migrating geese also flying in a line, not V-form.



PR101 is obviously also birds, but in that case their directional vector is perpendicular to their linear formation. Other examples can probably be found.

 

[jdog]

Based on apparent background information, those lines of dots in PR106 appear to be moving from the camera's left to right against the background.

..
PR101 is obviously also birds, but in that case their directional vector is perpendicular to their linear formation. Other examples can probably be found.

The next time I'm at the coast I'll look for birds flying through the La Jolla Cove. I've seen lines of 20-30 birds at a time flying along the wave crests.

 

[Ann K]

People have been dismissing the bird hypothesis because of the formation that is not V-shaped enough in their opinion.

A "V" in the sky is, of course, three-dimensional, so the shape depends on the viewer's position. It also depends upon a bird "volunteering" to be the lead one, as that position takes more energy because they can't catch any lift from the air streaming past the wings of the others. They switch position at intervals, and perhaps it takes a little time before the V shape is re-established.

 

[JMartJr]

Birds flying in a line rather than a V:


Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_FfDNXypoF8



Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/trFAhFevyEE?feature=share


Here are some pelicans -- I see them in a line frequently, more often than in a V:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rPcdIc4j4PA?feature=share


THIS one is interesting, one bird not in the line hints that a line might give you all the benefits of a V if your line has the same staggered spacing as one side of the V -- I think what is happening here is a V with only one bird on one side of the lead bird, and everybody else on the other!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YinyweqG_zE?feature=share

 

[igoddard]

A curiosity is that the probable birds in PR101 appear to be flying in a direction perpendicular to the length of their linear formation. I spent some time trying to find an example of that online, with no luck. Then I noticed...

In my video above, the linear formation of geese also appears to be flying in a direction perpendicular to the length of their linear formation, relative to closer stationary objects (a powerline and branches) in the frame and to the camera frame, wherein they are moving left to right, or eastward, despite the fact that their bodies point (tail to head) almost perfectly northward. So these geese seem to be flying sideways. Maybe that's an optical illusion or maybe strong winds can push birds perpendicular to the direction they're trying to travel. And perhaps geese fly in a line, not V shape, depending on such wind conditions.

So the birds in PR101 might be oriented just like these birds, possibly by winds blowing them sideways (perpendicular to their linear formation) or it might be an illusory parallax artifact of the aircraft's motion. A number of potential variables are in play.

Sorry for how shaky the video is, it's hand held at high magnification (the camera's zoom goes to 83x optical).

 

[jarlrmai]

Birds are aware of wind and will orientate flight facing so the relative ground movement is towards where they want to travel.

They also often form echelons or J lines rather than V's perhaps depending on wind direction, into a headwind they could use a V and with crosswind they use an echelon or a J, often this will look like a straight line from certain angles. But it's not always a V or J so it seems its possibly just also somewhat related preference of the birds themselves.

Racing cyclists also use echelons in strong side winds

https://www.siroko.com/blog/c/echelons-dealing-with-crosswinds/

 

[igoddard]

Birds flying in a line rather than a V:

...

Those examples appear to show formations where the directional vector is parallel to the linear formations, consistent with PR106. The uniqueness of PR101 is that the directional vector appears to be perpendicular to the linear formations, and which I didn't find an example of other than the video I posted. I should note that I was stationary while shooting it, looking through the eyepiece, which I always do since I always use manual focus (the Nikon P950 autofocus being totally unreliable in most outdoor settings).

Here is a study on the aerodynamics of linear flight formations,

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47525-9

 

[JMartJr]

And sometimes they even do THIS sort of thing while flying:


Source: https://youtu.be/e8Prw9AZ9jw?t=27


Which raises two thoughts:

Thought the First: Any claim that a formation of things in the air can't be birds because it is not in a "V" is counter-factual -- groups of birds flying together do not always make a "V" formation.

Thought the Second: I am surprised starling murmurations -- which truly look amazing and awe-inspiring -- don't generate UFO reports or videos. Move the formations in this video out a bit towards the LIZ, and you'd have a really strange shape-shifting blob (probably called an orb for no reason at all) that would look much more interesting than just another distant dot of light that does not do anything...