On our way to colorado (from texas) during thanksgiving break 2016, i was in the back seat of my family's van while we were in the new mexico part of the drive (between clayton and capulin, nm), when i looked out the window. in a cloudless sky, just a short distance (maybe a quarter mile?) away in the sky was an oddly w shape of a flock of birds (or at least that's what i think they were birds), to the left of us, moving in the opposite of the direction we were driving (which was nw) . they're wings were sort of shimmering, but i thought it was normal for these white birds in the sky to have a contrast between light and shadow, at 4pm-ish, with their wings beating and all. as i watched out of boredom, the shimmering increased from slow-disco-ball-spinning to glitter falling. it's difficult to describe accurately, but i know my eyes had never seen anything like that before, and haven't seen it since-- it was like my eyes were suddenly trying to see a blindspot or something. anyway, the shimmering of light on the birds' (?) wings intensified and that's when my eyes strained to see what was no longer there. the birds had freakin disappeared. not in a snap, somewhat in a flash, but the best way i can describe it is like they suddenly vanished into thin air(maybe into another dimension? idk man). there had been 14 or so of these seagulls or birdlike objects in the middle-ish part of the sky, and then they were gone. all this happened in about 30 seconds (i considered getting my phone out and taking pictures/videos but somehow i knew i need to keep my eyes to the skies this time). we were driving on a part of the highway that had almost no other cars present and it was a rolling plains/desert setting for a while there. there was a cloud/air streak in the sky far off in the distance from an aircraft or jet, and that's what i used as a frame of reference and something to look back and forth on for when i thought i was losing my mind for a second there, imagining things. after this incredible event was over and gone, i considered freaking out and telling my family, but i knew they wouldn't believe me. i tried to tell my 12 year old brother at the time, but i knew he wouldn't take me seriously back then. to this day, that incident from when i was 16 years old, fully awake, staring out the clean window out the van, has kept me a firm believer in ufos and the impossible. i wasn't going to even write this, but then i read about case 82456. it was so eeriely alike, in a similar location, and just a few months after my story occured-- i knew that now was a good of a time as any to write about my first ufo sighting. please note that i'm a sane, curious, ambitious college girl studying astronomy & astrophysics. i absolutely can't stand lying to people about anything (i'm horrible at keeping secrets). the truth is out there, and i only wish to be a part of the community that seeks to find it.