Circle over Whittier, CA

The report, as filed

On 1/15/2015, at approximately 1311 hrs., while standing in the backyard of my residence in Whittier, California, I happened to look up, and facing to the north and about 11 o’clock, with clear blue sky and no clouds, I began to observe what appeared to be a flock of approximately 20-25 geese traveling due east in a V flying formation from my left to right side at approximately 1,500-2,000 feet in altitude. As I continued to watch I tried to identify exactly what type of birds I was observing. While squinting, I was able to make out white wings with black on the tips. As I continued watching their flight I began to notice several oddities, (1), the flight seemed to be moving at a speed too fast for geese in flight, (2), I also noticed that the wings on all the objects were not moving at all during the entire flight of the formation, (3), there wasn't any noise as they passed directly overhead, (4), I did not observe a head, neck, or tail to the bird/object, but then noticed that the main body of the objects were perfectly round with a silver translucence color such as a balloon. My next thought was just that, a string of balloons with wings held together by a string. As I continued to watch the formation it was starting to become obscured by the house roof, so I immediately walked to the front of the house and resumed watching the formation, when at this time the entire formation stopped and ‘all’ the objects broke from the V-formation and began to do random irregular circular movements in all directions. At this moment I briskly walked about 15 feet to the front door of the house and yelled to both of my daughters (19 and 16 years old) to come out to see what I was watching. Upon both daughters stepping outside and standing next to me I pointed out the objects still doing random movements while still in one spot. While this continued I ran into the garage and grabbed my small binoculars from my roll along tool box and returned to the driveway next to my girls and started viewing this event th! rough them. About 30-45 seconds later, all the objects stopped their respective random movements and began moving again due east and formed back into a V-formation at their original speed of approximately 125-150 mph. As all three of us watched them travel eastward, I then observed a private aircraft (Cessna) appear from a northeast direction flying towards us and then began a hard left turn, exposing the full underside profile of the plane which then leveled out and headed directly towards the objects in the V-formation. As the Cessna approached the main V formation 2-3 of the objects from the right side of the V-formation broke off and began traveling due south with the Cessna, making a corrected turn to the right and pursuing the 2-3 objects which seemed to be a little faster. About 10-15 seconds went by as we watched the main formation starting to disappear to the east when I tried to relocate the Cessna and the 2-3 objects I then observed the objects make a 90 degree left turn a! nd resume heading due east in the same direction as the main formation with the Cessna also making a steep left turn in pursuit. Within approximately 15-25 seconds both the plane and objects had blended into the horizon. In disbelief as to what I had just witnessed I went into the house and sat at the laptop and pulled up a phone number and made two attempts to call Fullerton airport, both calls went to voice mail. I called Riverside Airport and spoke to the airport manager which showed some interest. I also called Whittier police dispatcher which had no calls of the sighting. I called ABC news, nothing. I called Whittier Daily news, nothing. At this time it seems only my girls and I had seen this event to date. It was at this time I returned to the laptop and began any searches of sightings and came across the Nat’l UFO Reporting Center which advised me to follow up with a written report of the incident, as well as my daughters. Please be advised that a drawing of the objects sighted will be made available. At this present time, I would not mind having contact with a representative or Peter Davenport. Sincerely, ((name deleted)) Retired Calif. Peace Officer. Drawings of objects reported will refer to this report as #1951. We spoke via telephone with the witness, and we found him to be both objective, and sober-minded, in his description of the event. We suspect that he is an excellent, and reliable, witness. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #116733). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.