First time seeing anything like this. Not sensational, but uncanny. In line with things I’ve read about some of the sightings around the mass ‘drone’ sightings of a few months back.

This is my first time experiencing anything quite like this. It’s not particularly flashy, but it’s definitely eerie. It aligns with the reports I’ve come across regarding the mass ‘drone’ sightings from a few months ago.
The green arrows in the images above indicate the flight direction.

Date: February 24, 2025
Time: 6:35 PM EST
Location: Long Island, New York, USA (near the border of Nassau and Suffolk counties, close to the north shore)
Duration of sighting: 40 seconds
Witnesses: 2

Sighting Description:

What I observed feels related to the “drone” incidents reported a few months back. There was nothing overtly cinematic about what I witnessed—nothing outlandishly UFO-like—but the experience itself was undeniably strange and unique for me. I have no theories about what I saw…

I’d like to share this with a local subreddit to see if anyone else in my area noticed anything unusual in the sky tonight, especially since it’s a densely populated region.

Around 6:35 PM, while having dinner with my wife and kids, I heard an unusually loud helicopter noise through the closed windows. I stepped outside onto the back porch, and a few moments later, I saw what appeared to be a helicopter (based on the rotor sound) with red blinking lights. Nothing seemed off just yet.

Initially, while I was outside for the first few seconds, my view was obstructed by a row of 70-foot pine trees at the back of my yard. I mention this to give you context about its height and distance, as I’m familiar with my surroundings. The trees are about 60 yards from where I was standing.

The helicopter was flying west to east over my yard, just crossing over the row of trees. It was flying considerably higher than the treetops, but not as high as the airplanes commonly flying in the area. It felt more like the height of a news or police helicopter—low enough for me to see it well without causing a disturbance in the trees.

As I watched for 3-5 seconds, the helicopter moved steadily across the sky. By the time it was halfway over my yard, my initial interest waned—it was just a regular helicopter. That’s when things took a strange turn, and I became acutely aware of what was happening.

Suddenly, an extremely bright, warm white orb of light appeared about 10-15 helicopter lengths ahead of the aircraft, directly in line with its flight path. Based on my perception of the sky at that moment, the altitude of the helicopter, its speed, and the distance to this new light, I realized the light was a separate object and that the helicopter was pursuing it.

Even though it sounds simple (a helicopter at night and a white light), witnessing it was quite startling. I let out a yell, and my son rushed outside to see what was happening. He caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared behind our house. I quickly relayed the excitement to my wife, who had stayed inside with our daughter. My son suggested we go out front to find out where the objects went.

We dashed through the house and out to our driveway, where we managed to see the last few moments of their flight before they were obscured by the trees across the street.

The white orb remained illuminated, significantly brighter and larger than typical aircraft lights. It had a unique quality—almost like a distinct ball of light, rather than a spotlight. The sudden emergence of this light was astonishing. I had been standing there for mere moments, and then WHAM! What an experience!