Right? At that point you’re trading off between useful payload and batteries. I’m wondering if maybe they’re witnessing a loiter pattern, and misrepresenting is as a hover. These likely aren’t aerospace Engineers giving quotes here.
Other aspects to consider are that the “drones” are replaced by others as batteries deplete or that the drones aren’t really there as long as people believe.
It’s possible that someone is doing this as a hobby for artistic, conspiracy theory “reconnaissance“ or benign data gathering-purposes or conducting some sort of investigation or intelligence gathering.