Northwestern Ontario had four UFO sightings last year, according to the recently released 2013 Canadian UFO survey.

The report is compiled each year by UFOlogy Research, based in Manitoba.

Research co-ordinator Chris Rutkowski said they gather data on reports from online sources, direct reports to his organization, Transport Canada, National Defence, as well as the RCMP.

Chris Rutkowski is a civilian science writer who has produced the Canadian UFO survey since 1989. (Supplied) “There were four cases identified from Thunder Bay. The most recent of them was last Aug. 16, where six orange glowing objects were moving across the sky at about 11:45 p.m.,” he said.

Rutkowski says that UFO sightings came from an online report, but the person reporting it didn't leave contact information, so they couldn't follow up. A check to see if there were any other cases in the area at the same time turned up empty.

The survey notes UFO sightings in Canada are sky high, hitting a total only seen once before in the past 25 years.

There were 1,180 UFO sightings reported in 2013, or about three each day. It is the second-highest number recorded in Canada in the past 25 years. The peak year was 2012, when almost 2,000 reports were recorded.

The spike in 2012 was likely an anomaly due to many people excited about the so-called “end of the world” in 2012 according to the Mayan Calendar, and reporting many lights and objects as UFOs, Rutkowski said.