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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis is very strange.
My friend and I were just out in my parking lot when we heard a noise. We looked up and saw this flock of geese flying over.
The strange part was that these geese were big and they were glowing....yes...I said glowing!! At night you hear them and sometimes can make out the line of them but these geese were glowing. As I said they were huge to.
Is there a new species of geese? A nuclear reactor nearby ( SW Washington?) Did they escape from a lab? Are they Russian spies?
We were able to watch them fly away for a long time. When they got far away it was like looking at a nebula on Star Trek.
Anybody here have an explanation?

unblock
(54,553 posts)
Sinistrous
(4,249 posts)Very instructive.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)...but only when the sky is clear and there is some hidden light source on the ground shining upwards - it doesn't take much if it's really dark that night. If the air is clear enough the air itself stays dark but anything flying by gets lit up.
Ka-Dinh Oy
(11,686 posts)Been raining most of the day.
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)rockfordfile
(8,732 posts)padah513
(2,677 posts)Meowmee
(7,133 posts)If there is a strong enough light source causing their white underneath to reflect.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/glowing-geese-not-so-fast-scientists-debunk-video-of-illuminated-birds-1.3662830
BlueMTexpat
(15,527 posts)the link!
Ka-Dinh Oy
(11,686 posts)I looked that up and other articles.
From the little bit of research from those articles they turn out to be Snow Geese heading for Skagit Valley where they will raise their chick's in the Fall, Winter, and into the Spring.
The glowing is explained by their white bellies and light on the ground.
However, what is still odd is that the glow is supposed to be light from a city below or a very bright concentrated light. I live in a small town and we do not have a place with that bright of a light.
Maybe they do the same thing that those walk way lights you can get that lighten the walk way at night.
I don't know about that but hey, it was cool.
Meowmee
(7,133 posts)The clouds. I hope you got a pic/ video 😀
Ka-Dinh Oy
(11,686 posts)The sad thing is they were not like little sparks. You could see the forms of each goose in their v pattern clearly.
Meowmee
(7,133 posts)2naSalit
(95,316 posts)In southern Montana, Butte to be exact, there is a superfund site called the Berkley pit that is highly toxic from mining waste. It is so toxic that there are active hazing measures in place year round to keep waterfowl from landing in the water in the pit because they will die. Many of the birds hazed are snow geese.
So I wonder if they were somehow exposed to something that actually glows like phosphorous or something.
But then, I have seen snow geese flying at night and I could see them even in a very rural area with no light pollution.
Ka-Dinh Oy
(11,686 posts)In that case, poor birds.
GoCubsGo
(33,453 posts)that nuclear reactors and radiation, do not cause animals to glow.