Unknown over Clifton, VA

The report, as filed

On January 21st, 2021 at approximately 3:05 PM, in Clifton, Virginia, the weather was sunny, but cold, and I was laying in my yard. As I lay, I was looking up at the sky. Up above, far past the treeline, at an approximated 75 degree angle from where I lay, and very high up in the sky, I saw 8 tiny white objects. I cannot say whether they were white or silver/metallic and appeared white because of reflection from the bright sun. It is hard to say exactly what shape the objects were, because of how high up they were, but from my perspective they appeared to be spherical. The objects were moving in a pattern that was very similar to birds like vultures. At first, I thought it was seagulls flying very high in the sky, but this was in an area where seagulls are not common. I observed the 8 objects moving in circular formation, with some on the outside ring of rotation, some on inside rings. The rotation or orbital pattern did not seem to be uniform, although circular. I observed this for a short time, probably only less than 1 minute. Then, I observed 6 of the objects disappear and only 2 remained. It seemed like the 6 evaporated into the air or elevated higher in the atmosphere. Then, the 2 remaining traveled West in a : pattern, with one above and one below the other. The one on the bottom sped up and slowed down, sped up and slowed down. As it sped up, the one above disappeared. As it slowed down, the one above came back into my view. I observed this for about one or 2 minutes before the 2 objects then disappeared from my view in the same fashion that the original 6 of the 8 had minutes before.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #178517). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.