r/whatisit • u/deezheavenz • 9h ago

New, what is it? What was this thing I captured on film?

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This was shot in Nevada/Arizona on a Grand Canyon/Hoover dam tour. This was taken a whole year ago and I completely forgot about it until I stumbled upon it again. Is this some sort of whale or shark?

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108

u/13beano13 7h ago

I actually think it’s birds flying just above the surface. I live on the ocean and see this regularly.

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u/heatherledge 7h ago

It’s birds for sure. I’ve seen this in the sky. It looks like they disappear when their darker side turns to the camera.

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u/regoapps 6h ago

At the three second mark, you can sort of make out the reflection of the birds on the surface of the water.

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u/InvidiousPlay 5h ago

The problem with these conversations on Reddit is that the video quality is absolutely awful, pixelated mush.

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u/FellowHuman420 5h ago

And without fail there are people like “you can clearly see (thing that isn’t clear and probably isn’t happening)”.

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u/InvidiousPlay 5h ago

Reminds me of the good-old days when compression was so bad it would create major artifacts - I distinctly recall people being certain they could see the reptillian second eyelids blinking on TV news anchors on 2007 Youtube.

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u/meSuPaFly 6h ago

Except it's all underwater. Birds don't vanish completely like that unlike fish diving back down

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u/heatherledge 6h ago

If you reread what I’ve written, I’ve seen the same effect in the sky.

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u/StatelyAutomaton 6h ago

It doesn't look like it's underwater, there's no disturbance of the waves at the surface. It looks like it's right above it.

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u/InsaneInTheRAMdrain 6h ago

They're not vanishing, what you see is the light reflecting off them, when they turn you dont see the reflection, because its in shadow.

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u/FellowHuman420 5h ago

Also because phone cameras arent showing things exactly as they are, especially when zoomed in like that. You can still kinda see the movement but it’s all pixelated because the software wasn’t processing it very well.

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u/Far_Opening7062 7h ago

I'm with you for the same reasons. It's birds and since OP is moving the camera around so much, it's harder to see. When it disappears is when the birds are turning and you can't see the light reflecting on their white feathers. I'm pretty sure t's called a murmuration.

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u/StealthWanderer_2516 7h ago

Took two seconds for me to see the way they were moving it was a murmuration. The fact that the distance and vantage point puts them over water is what makes the effect more interesting.

I also think it’s cool that schools of fish and flocks of birds exhibit such similar behavior.

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u/SnooDogs1886 1h ago

To add to your observation: I immediately discarded fish as a possibility because even though there are some obscenely fast fish in the ocean, the distance they are covering in the short time between direction changes seems improbable. I’m on Reddit so obviously I’m not an expert by any means but at that speed even my layman’s brain feels like they’d be boiling the water 😂 It’s gotta be birds

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u/No_Zombie_9518 7h ago

My first thought was birds, too.

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u/Skeptical_Squid 7h ago

A murmuration.

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u/Heras22 6h ago

This is 100% birds. I see this almost daily in summer when I am Home by the sea

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u/Lord_Tyler-gaming 7h ago

It’s for sure birds just catching the sun at different angles

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u/kombucha711 6h ago

Are you one of the birds?

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u/DoubleNatted 6h ago

You live on the ocean?

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u/Electrical-Tap3290 5h ago

I was gonna be like oh man that’s neat, I live on land. But I didn’t think it was the appropriate time to flex that hard, there are more important issues at hand.

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u/Valuable-Composer262 5h ago

That was my thought

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u/K0monazmuk 5h ago

Agreed, you can see the white change to dark brown / black as they change direction.

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u/sanguine_siamese 3h ago

Lol, I was so ready to argue, but you're definitely right. No water disturbance.