Looks like a very bright star, but moves (mostly back and forth slowly). It moved down ~2 degrees in 10 min. Cloud cover it sometimes

It looked like a normal star, albeit very bright. I believe Venus was visible just above it, both were equally luminous and the same apparent size. What I believe to be Venus (according to TheSkyLive.com) stayed still the entire time while this object swayed. We were looking through the tree line, though no leaves are present on the trees and low to moderate winds. As we watched, the object would sway back and forth (side to side) repeatedly— far enough to be a noticeable sway. Clouds would pass over this object and it would become much dimmer, but as the cloud moved past it would reappear (at least we believe it’s clouds, it is night so it’s kind of hard to tell). After 4-5 minutes, it had moved to a lower angle, possibly 23 degrees above the horizon or so. We went back inside, but about 20 minutes later I went back out to see it again and it was still there. The possible aura or haze that I am checking may be due to astigmatism (which both mom and I have). Also, I am saying that animals were effected. I don’t believe this to be a “close encounter”, but while we watched the object, a bird came out of the bush and started flying into the night light on our houses exterior repeatedly, very similarly to how a moth would. The bird looked like a raven, but again we are not experts and it was night.