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Bird that glows in the dark - Ozarks, MO & AR (1 Viewer)

KGP

Member
I have seen this creature twice, and at completely different locations. Others with me have witnessed it as well, but for two years now I have not been able to find anything on the internet as to what it might be. I assume it's a bird or owl. Both sightings have been around water. One instance was while boating on Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. While sitting in the boat a few hundred yards from shore, we watched this bird fly back and forth along the shore-line. The other sighting was near the Current River, just a few miles downstream from the Montauk trout park (MO). This time we watched it from high atop a bluff while it was flying along the far side of a hollow, about 400 yards away. As the title would imply, these were watched at night. The bird emitted a green glow, much the same color as a firefly. It would cover a distance of ~600 yards in far less than a minute, but I wasn't timing it. Frankly, we sat there in amazement, wondering what we were watching. We watched it ofr more than 15 minutes this time. It is most defiantly the size of a bird. Again, being that it was watched in the dark, it's hard to say whether it was the size of a black bird or a hawk. Additionally, the glow might throw off whatever estimate I could give. But again, the distance it covered, and the distance we observed it from totally rules out some kind of large insect, not to mention the flight mannerisms were most defiantly that of a bird, and the wings could be seen flapping, although the glow from them was less than from the body. Another friend has seen the same thing, also on Bull Shoals, but he has no idea what it is either. Anyone have an idea of what this is?
 
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I guess anything is possible. Given that these sightings were in the middle of the night, i.e., ~midnight - could maybe it have been some sort of bat that glows? Although it's flight mannerisms were nothing like a typical bat.

Oh, I didn't specifically mention it, but my sightings were about 150 miles apart, and two years time difference. However, both sightings were in the month of July (mid month).
 
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There are no birds that glow in the dark as far as I am aware - that is why i suggested the involvement of bacteria.
 
Thanks. Interesting reading. I am now fairly convinced it was a barn owl. I am going to try and capture some video this summer.

Barn Owl is what I was going to suggest, also. In strong moonlight or in other conditions of less than complete darkness Barn Owls foraging low over fields can display a distinct glow (a trick of the light, I think, not actual luminescence) which is often very striking & "ghost-like".

Good luck with your videos.
 
KGP did say the glow was green, rather than white. Despite my sceptical (skeptical) nature, am inclined to think, between this thread and the other one, that some sort of real phenomenon is being described other than simple reflection.
 
KGP did say the glow was green, rather than white. Despite my sceptical (skeptical) nature, am inclined to think, between this thread and the other one, that some sort of real phenomenon is being described other than simple reflection.
Yes, but given that the thing was about 400 yards away and has a background of pine and cedar trees, maybe that might have made it appear a light shade of green? I wish I could go back and recall with 100% accuracy every detail I witnessed, but I can't. I was even going to reply to fugl that on the second sighting that it was a new moon phase and was pitch dark. Well, it was (100%) a new moon phase, as that was the purpose of venturing atop that particular bluff - to get an great view of the stars, at what is regarded as the the best star gazing locations for more than hundreds of miles (very dark/no city lights). However, I might have wrongly recalled the time we went up there. It might have been after sunset, where there was just a tad bit of light still coming from the horizon. I simply can't say with 100% certainty.


Next time - if there is one, I'll document all the details. In the mean time, this search for an answer might have led my way to solving a problem I have with rodents around my farm. I'm building some Owl boxes! Free rodent control. Never woud have thought of it until coming accross barn owl information.:king:
 
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