Light over Tucson, AZ

The report, as filed

March 28, around 12:30 PM I was at my dining table working on my laptop. The room became very very dark, quite quickly, as if a large and very thick cloud was passing over. However, the fact it became so dark, so quickly, and cast my dining room into such deep shadow, felt so unusual to me that I decided to go outside to my patio to see just how large a cloud might be passing over. Even though it was a windy day and there were scattered white clouds in the area, a cloud capable of such a shadow just didn’t seem logical to me. When I got outside and out from under my veranda roof, I did take note of a large cloud moving away from the sun but as the sun was still partially shrouded the cloud I couldn’t look directly at it… the sun was too bright. The cloud was moving northeast and the sun was high and to the south. A very large red-tailed hawk attracted my attention, soaring against a clear blue background of open sky at about 1000 feet or so, and slightly to the north. Its markings were clear and distinct, a beautiful thing to witness, so I whistled a hawk call, twice. It turned, and I whistled the call again. At that time a bright sphere appeared far above the soaring hawk, a point of light, bright, white… Not bright like a star or a landing light. But it was a point of light, very unusual… so I fixated on it. I focused on it for around five to seven seconds, and observed it grow in size, and it didn't move much either. Then a streak appeared to extend from the right side of this ball of light, like a flare, and I recall thinking I would describe flare as “feathery”. All at once the white sphere seemed to flash, to expand and was gone, and then, in its place and right next the soaring hawk that had originally attracted my attention, appeared an identical hawk. They soared in formation for a bit, criss-crossing paths, something I'd seen before, and after 20-30 seconds the original hawk turned and headed to the south/southwest. The hawk that had just appeared turned north and I lost sight of it. I know the human eye can play tricks on the mind, and there may well be a logical and natural explanation for this sighting. The other hawk may have been far above the first, and out of focus in an empty field of blue sky considering my eyes were moving, following the first hawk. It is possible the second hawk decided to dive directly down to join the other and was backlit by the sun as it dove. But for this to happen right overhead, as I was calling to the first hawk... strange. I am not given to fantasy or wishful thinking… I was a 3000+ hour USAF pilot, and after that, an engineer for McDonnell-Douglas and Boeing. I retired from Boeing 10 years ago. I have a degree in Biological Sciences and am somewhat well grounded in the basic sciences including physics and chemistry. I consider myself to be an objective observer and am quite familiar with the principles of science and experimentation. I also am an avid observer of nature, and have been for years. I live in the country, on an acreage, near Tucson, Arizona. Whatever I saw was remarkable, even if explainable by natural avian behaviors and the orientation of the sun. However I will tell you that I have seen large hawks soaring at great heights before diving right down to near ground level within feet of me, and with the sun high. The hawk in that case was a dark speck that quickly grew as it sped toward me, wings tucked. It didn’t come out of a ball of light. So I’m wondering who else might have reported some similar experience. A hawk coming out of a ball of light, the light flares and poof there's a hawk. As I said, I’m not inclined to assume anything supernatural, paranormal, or other-worldly at this time, but I am willing to entertain the possibility. I’ve encountered UFOs during my flying career and had a friend in the intelligence field who took reports from aircrews who experienced stunning and frightening encounters… so for me, it’s all on the table.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #126622). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.