1. A method comprising: capturing, over a period of time, by one or more optical sensors coupled to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), sensor data representing images of an airspace surrounding the UAV; detecting, in the sensor data, information representative of a plurality of lights associated with a flying object; determining an estimated distance between the UAV and the flying object; determining one or more characteristic features of the plurality of lights based at least in part on the sensor data and the estimated distance between the UAV and the flying object; identifying, using a characteristic feature database, the flying object based at least in part on the one or more characteristic features of the plurality of lights; determining an estimated airspeed of the flying object based at least in part on the sensor data; determining a trajectory envelope of the flying object based at least in part on performance parameters associated with the identified flying object and the estimated airspeed of the flying object; and updating a flight plan of the UAV based at least in part on the trajectory envelope of the flying object.