Very unusual object photographed in Arizona sky

originally posted by: htapath
But I do pay attention to my surroundings and I'm sometimes compelled to share my observations.

But not this time, since as you stated you weren't paying enough attention to your surroundings to observe the object captured by your camera.

My first impression was a bird caught with its wings flapping. It could be a bin bad or some rubbish caught in the wind, but i'm going with bird.
Keep looking up, you never know what you'll see.

a reply to: rhynouk

Not directing this at you at all,, (you just looked like a good shoulder to rant on but ufo discussions are not providing progress in life for anyone except the military with all the hostility and ridicule about misidentifications.

I'm usually pro UFO, but that doesn't mean I just say it and run off, and I went all the way from saying it looks like a military/alien hybrid contraption, to actually Identifying this bird's species, which is the Arizona black vulture. But I saw no reason to be mean spirited towards the OP..
No one else here did much except ridicule and badger the op, plus just lay there in their homes all sauced and belligerent and about to light their bed on fire from carelessness.

It is ridiculous to piss away these opportunities to get the brain moving, and use them instead to piss on posters.. Wouldn't you agree?
Who cares if someone misidentifies things? That is how the best minds in the world learn things, trial and error describes humanity perfectly anyway. Being ready to judge and ridicule is exactly what the Air Force wanted the public to do way back before blue-book, which they did specifically because Barry Goldwater was all up in their arse about ufo's (he was one reason) and they couldn't get congress off of their backs because of that publicity, and just look now still at all the posters comments in most every UFO thread to see how successful their (military) multi million dollar a year budget to get us all doing that job for them has been.

I'm going to keep reminding people of this because it should be said, even if it's off topic.. (I'll do a thread on this if post is out of bounds) There have been many done on the same issue, but repetition is not a bad thing)

a reply to: alienreality

While I do see some similarities between the vulture images and the object in question, there are also just as many inconsistencies. There are no discernable feathers on the extremities of the object. Also, large birds tend to soar and glide with the wind currents once they are at high altitudes. If those are wings on the object, what are the chances that a bird that size would be flapping its wings to the fullest extent? There are lots of turkey vultures at one of my favorite state parks in NC (Pilot Mtn State Park) and the only times I've seen them fully flap their wings is when they're taking flight from a resting position.

I'm just not seeing a good match between the two. Close but no cigar.

originally posted by: cosmikDebris
a reply to: htapath

So your cellphone captured an image of something that can't be seen with the naked eye? To me it's clearly a bird.

It wouldn't be the first time by any stretch of the imagination.

For example:

originally posted by: htapath
a reply to: alienreality

While I do see some similarities between the vulture images and the object in question, there are also just as many inconsistencies. There are no discernable feathers on the extremities of the object. Also, large birds tend to soar and glide with the wind currents once they are at high altitudes. If those are wings on the object, what are the chances that a bird that size would be flapping its wings to the fullest extent? There are lots of turkey vultures at one of my favorite state parks in NC (Pilot Mtn State Park) and the only times I've seen them fully flap their wings is when they're taking flight from a resting position.

I'm just not seeing a good match between the two. Close but no cigar.

Again, you are telling everyone that has posted an explanation with very logical conclusions that they are incorrect yet have given us absolutely nothing of your own opinion other than your "intuition" tells you it is not a bird.

Again I will compare this type of argument to something of an un/under educated stance/response....similar to a child holding their hands over their ears and shouting La La La so they can't hear you speak.

Oh, and the chances of seeing a large bird flap their wings to their fullest extent is pretty high...that is why wings are like that....to flap. Do you propose that birds simply have that capability for no reason other than they just have it but don't ever use it?

originally posted by: htapath

originally posted by: cosmikDebris
a reply to: htapath

So your cellphone captured an image of something that can't be seen with the naked eye? To me it's clearly a bird.

It wouldn't be the first time by any stretch of the imagination.

For example:

That's called dust lit up by a flash......but I am guessing you think they are some kind of spirit orbs or something.....

a reply to: htapath

I hear you, and I do agree there are some peculiarities about the image, but I did do a huge blow up of this image and it didn't mess the image up, just enlarged it, but clearly you can see the feather tips everywhere on this object, I can email you the enlargements if you want, I am sure you will be able making at least a better decision if you look at it. Or I can do a better quality enhancement if you want.
Also, take a copy of that on a USB drive and take it to some bird nut PhD person somewhere, like a college and see if they identify it quickly, or whatever they think. I would if it was an image I caught. It is an awesome image man, I love that picture. It's worth good money in my honest opinion.. I challenge anyone on the site to find an image looking like this with the same bird in a downstroke that shows the particular wing design/configuration of anhedral/dihedral etc... that this one has..

In my first post or 2 in this thread I did point out a lot of things that are still strange about this thing, which not too many even checked themselves before just slamming the thread, but I did finally have to admit to myself has got to be that black vulture, not sure if that is also a turkey vulture. I have found the wing characteristics are very, very close in those other images. It just has to be that.
But at the same time, I still have to admit, some things aren't quite right, but that is most likely still just a mundane reason to explain it.

You could still be right about this, but investigate it more just for peace of mind and ask some grey haired old college prof. what they think..
Let me know if you want any of the blow ups and enhanced images, I can get the file sizes down a lot without losing too much I think..
My first enlargement in a large format photoshop file is 5.5 Gigabytes lol... but the cropped ones are teeny tiny less than a meg..

originally posted by: alienreality
a reply to: htapath

I want you to know that I appreciate and trust what you say because I can also see some things about this thing/bird/contraption that just puts the average busybody to sleep, rather than inspire any investigation hehe.. It is a very cool picture, whether or not it is something strange or mundane.

Even if a damn bird, the logo like crest on that right wing underneath, or center of the back end, and markings on the visible outer left wing are not the usual, but that might be a byproduct of the enhancement I did. Still, though, in images where there are contrasted and discernable colors like the solid blue sky and then that black bird like object, you usually wouldn't see artifacts from enhancement just on the object in question, it would show the same artifact elsewhere, but that didn't happen.

The colors started popping out, the more I added some light/contrast changes, but only on the wing, and that glowing crest with the 3 or 4 segments were very sensitive to any enhancement, much more so than anything else in the image, which could be relevant to something abnormal that was there, or maybe not.. But it got my attention because just bumping the light a bit, affected that glowing aberration very quickly and a lot, when everything else in the image didn't do anything noticeable except get a bit lighter.

Your kind words and pleasant attitude are much appreciated. Also I admire your tenacity and attention to detail. There is a lot happening all around us constantly, and it's a challenge to learn from each other's perspective.

On some level, we're all doing the best that we can under the limitations and ever changing circumstances. I do feel that much has been hidden from us by the scientific community and the political controllers. I feel a duty to expose the cracks in the complex mesh of lies and deception.

It's a pleasure to work together as we endeavor to sever the cords that hold us down and find a peace that lasts forever.

a reply to: alienreality

I'm not badgering or ridiculing the OP. There have been times when i've wanted to make a thread but didn't due to the same reason.
I said what I thought it was. Not much more to add, but i'll try to elaberate a bit on what I meant.

When I saw the picture I instantly thought it was a bird with its wings flapping. It doesn't look like A UFO to me. It doesn't look like a weather balloon either.
It could be something caught up in an updraft as well but seems quite high up for that though.

I even starred the thread and flagged it.

originally posted by: alienreality
But I saw no reason to be mean spirited towards the OP. No one else here did much except ridicule and badger the op, plus just lay there in their homes all sauced and belligerent and about to light their bed on fire from carelessness. :lol

This is just the latest in a long line of cases where somebody posts something supposedly asking us what we think something is, and then essentially refusing to accept a reasonable explanation. Which indicates that they weren't really interested in knowing what it really is, or our opinions, but instead only wanted us to pat them on the back or something for having finally after all these years capturing incontrovertible proof of... whatever.

This is posted in a UFO/Aliens forum. Not the Aircraft Forum. So the implication is that the OP thinks it's perhaps something otherworldly. Okay, fine.

But when multiple people offer perfectly good explanations that are all stubbornly rejected by the OP, then yeah maybe we get a little insulted and feel like maybe the OP was a little disingenuous about wanting an real answer, and also for wasting our time and energy since they already have their mind made up that it isn't a bird.

So, yeah, rather than get worked up about it, a better thing to do would be to just let it drop because it's pointless to continue.

a reply to: htapath

Obviously, it's an Alien spacecraft coming down for a landing. I think I can even make out inhabitants on the top of the craft.

Birds and Balloons, how silly.

6 pages to discuss a bird mid flight....

wow.

Look at the 30 second mark:

originally posted by: captaintyinknots
6 pages to discuss a bird mid flight....

wow.

Well, you didn't even take the image itself as having, any value when it clearly does have value, and just bash the thread with mock surprise. A picture like this that is allegedly misidentified has happened multi millions of times in history and has a place in social culture all its own in the USA and elsewhere, and the US Air Force (army-air force) back in the late 40's has used this and anything they can get their hands on to absolutely destroy the citizenry's ability to counter it with anything that works.

Any mistake is pounced on like dogs jumping in on the one dog all the others are chasing and biting.. (Dogs will join a pack and attack the dog the same as the others that are already attacking the dog that is getting ripped on.) They don't know why, they just instinctively are compelled to do it.. I would think people would see this being done by the MIC and walk away from being so simple minded and fooled. Because it is, and has been the plan from those that have kept this subject a taboo to just be ridiculed. IF you can't say anything good, just stay away and add years to your life to boot..hehe
Gets tiring to see the pack still caught in their trap..

@Blue I hear ya.. Just trying to point out other things I thought were important in this type of forum, which was trying to get more people showing why rather than just slam, I mean, something other than what the billion dollar budget for this topic wants everyone to do.. (which is to be like piranhas on each other) ad nauseum..

The good folks at the Above Network have mentioned similar points in the past.

PS: whoever tried to ridecule the image with the orbs doesn't know much about them. Or has their mind made up without any investigation to prove their own belief has any merit.. Without investigation, there isn't a whole lot of merit.
Just Saying...
By the way, for what is assumed to be dust, still has some very un dust like features.. Like faces, which are always there in certain types of orbs.

and the other crowd might like this one better:

The bottom right on this is actually what was seen with only light enhancement and some enlargement. I haven't commented myself on what I think they are, because it is all in the eye of the beholder to discern for themselves.
Only one black dot on this one where the eye would be.. Amazing coincidence..

originally posted by: htapath
a reply to: Mianeye

That would have to be an extremely large bird! Larger than a 747 in my estimation.

I love the way people claim to be able to work out the distance and size of an unknown object in a single still photo, when such a thing is utterly impossible.

I love the way people claim to be able to work out the distance and size of an unknown object in a single still photo, when such a thing is utterly impossible.

Well, *actually*...

Atmospheric haze (or lack thereof) on the bird limits the maximum distance it can be. It's far too clear to be a distant object, certainly not "20+ miles away and 5000+ feet in the air" as the OP suggested earlier in the thread.

Sorry - I just had to be flippant!

a reply to: MarsIsRed

Well yeah.

I love his logic that it could be a massive object miles away... er if that were the case why wouldn't you have noticed it? You said you were watching the clouds for a long time?

Whereas if it was a bird passing by you wouldn't even notice... and you didn't.

htapath:
The clouds are in focus but the object is not. If the object was closer to the camera than the clouds, then there wouldn't be as much pixelation.

Did you even read what you wrote there? The clouds are in focus but the object is not — and you are using that as an argument that they just be at the SAME distance? Do you understand the first thing about optics?

a reply to: Vasa Croe

Your input is appreciated, although the delivery could use a little work. I'm not here to play patty cakes with anyone and I'm not looking for a psychological evaluation from some random anonymous person.

Good day.

a reply to: htapath
That's the thing about birds; we're so used to seeing them that we don't notice them when our concentration is on something else.

I took this pic a while back and was so intent on getting the clouds and contrast right I didn't notice the whole flock of birds which were obviously in plain sight at the time.