I was out for a late evening walk by a local canal bank when I noticed, in my peripheral vision, two auburn colored lights rising from a tree line in the distance. At first I thought they may have been helicopters, since they were coming from the "somewhat" general direction of a shuttered airbase (Castle AFB); but, being I've lived in the vicinity for over 40 years, and have seen many types of aircraft come and go, these looked like nothing I'd seen before; so, I stopped and took a photo of both orbs. As I was doing so, more started to ascend from the same general area, so I quickly switched my phone to "video", and started to video them. Those were the first two of approximately 15 of those auburn colored orbs I witnessed that night in Merced County. They came up from the north, low, over the horizon, slow and steady, apparently noiseless, in an unorganized assent and headed southeast, crossing over state highway 99. And, though I could hear the relatively steady noise of the not too distant traffic, I did not hear any distinct prop or jet noise from them through the whole 15 minute duration of the event, as they rose above the tree line and faded into the distance before blinking out. Also, anything with a prop, at the distance they were in comparison to the traffic, I would have definitely been able to hear. In fact, you would think a group of anything that large would make some sort of racket; as they weren't that distant from me and didn't reach that high an altitude before blinking out. Also, aside from the solid orangish light they emanated, they didn't have any wing or tail navigation, proximity or flashing-position lamps from what I could see. Neither from their front as they approached nor from the rear as they departed. NOTE: This happened in Merced so I was hoping anyone from the area traveling on the north or south lanes of Highway 99, at approximately 9:00pm to 9:15pm, just over the 16th street overpass may have also seen them, as (from my point of view) they looked as though they may have crossed that highway.