TARBES (65) 06.11.2018

A witness reported seeing a dark triangular UAP with five faint lights arranged in a V pass slowly and silently over Tarbes (65) for 10–15 seconds. On 23 September 2019 she reported that the observation had occurred on 6 November 2018 at 23:19. The source calls this 'more than a year later', although the supplied dates are less than a year apart. She relied on an account she had written earlier and had also posted on a website; neither the written account nor the online report is dated. The observation date remains uncertain. She described a clear sky with visible stars, inconsistent with weather records for that date showing substantial cloud cover, 6 eighths (see investigation report). Only one account was collected, preventing comparison with another. Nevertheless, the reasonably complete account gives the case fairly good evidential strength. The favored hypothesis is birds illuminated by streetlights. The shape and apparently slow movement strongly suggest birds, particularly migrants. The reported strangeness was the shape: 'It was a black triangle, not very large, with five lights arranged in a V. The lights were fairly faint, but a solid shape was clearly distinguishable. It passed above me without a sound.' A group of birds can create the illusion of a single object made up of several light points. A V is a familiar flight formation, substantially reducing the apparent strangeness under the bird hypothesis. The points were blurred and faint, consistent with plumage reflecting Tarbes's urban lighting. Early November is a migration period in an area with many known migration corridors. Species passing then include cranes and greylag geese. Silence remains compatible with birds. Weather records indicate a cloud ceiling of 2, 880 m, about 2, 500 m above the ground at Tarbes. The investigation treats this as an upper limit for the UAP's altitude, again compatible with birds. The site migraction.net provides extensive information and an observational database. The 10–15-second duration seems short for a migratory-bird flight, but the witness may have underestimated it, since she described slow apparent movement: 'It was not going fast.' The case is classified B: probable misidentification of birds.