Comments on: New Big Bird Sightings

By: KateLedHead

KateLedHead — Fri, 11 May 2007 07:55:58 +0000

Maybe people are already aware of this photo of a giant bird sighting. And maybe it’s a hoax. It looks pretty real to me though. I was stunned when I first saw it. Wish I knew who took it.

It is from a Hong Kong website where people who fly RC airplanes post pictures. Check out the website I took it from:

http://www.rcsail.com/soaring148.jpg

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 06:29:00 +0000

I have never heard any thunderbird stories about fishing. they usually went for bigger prey that would sustain them, right? how close is that town in scotland to the ocean, maybe it was some sort of eagle or something coming in from the coast. I dunno, I would like to think that not all animals of a larger size were wiped out for any reason. I find it interesting that someone above mentioned mamoths because not too long ago (couple years max) there was an expedition trying to find mamoths in India. The idea there was that in building the taj mahol large, hairy elephants were used to move some of the bigger columns. So whose to say that all the larger animals are extict.

By: MBFH

MBFH — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 20:35:23 +0000

I don’t think the Kirkintilloch bird would have been a buzzard Tabitca – they’re usually savengers and definately don’t hunt over water. Could have been an Osprey though. There is a breeding population in the Lake District (c.100 miles south) that have had young that could have moved on to establish their own territories. I saw one heading to the Lakes this year, it looked huge – they could easily be mistaken for something with an 8 foot wingspan. Saying that, so could a heron…and that big ptero like beak…

By: springheeledjack

springheeledjack — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 02:47:49 +0000

I direct your attention to the sky. Just think about how much time you actually spend looking upward when you are going anywhere…in the car, by bike, on foot. Do you really keep your eyes skyward…me neither most of the time…I would like to think I would see something like that flying overhead, but if it was high enough, I believe it very possible I would ASSume it was a plane…and the higher up, the smaller things look anyway.
Most skeptics would ASSume that if there were big birds somebody would see the darn things and those people would also have cameras and video and what not, but you know what assuming does…

I am not convinced at present that we have a population of pteranodans, dactyls or 30 foot wingspan birds roaming, but to assume they are not there on the basis of conjecture is much more ridiculous than a population of pteros flying around…as for me, I am keeping my eyes to the sky…

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 01:00:03 +0000

Chymo,
the current lack of giantism has more to do with the time period we live in than any lack of tendency towards it in modern mammals. Just look at the mammoth and baluchitherium for examples of mammalian gigantism…or giant beavers for that matter. The environmental changes brought about by the end of the last ice age, almost certainly coupled with the spread of early human hunters, led to the extinction (Or reduction, shall we say, in cases where there is some CZ evidence for late survival) of many of the larger mammals. The simple truth is that a significant change in environment can dramatically alter or reduce the availability and variety of food sources. Bigger animals require more food, thus, they suffer where smaller ones do not. In the sea, today you find that huge leatherback sea turtles are critically endangered, while the much smaller loggerheads are only threatened. In Australia, fossil studies have shown that emus were able to subsist on scrub grasses and weeds, whereas the much larger genyornis needed the greater bounty of the savannah and peripheral forest shrubbery to survive. When the savannahs were burnt by humans, both birds switched their diets, but only one survived.

By: Mnynames

Mnynames — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 00:43:58 +0000

I don’t know there…I live on the coast of southern New Jersey, where herons and egrets are quite plentiful, where I routinely work as a field guide in the salt marsh. Even I do doubletakes sometimes, because the herons look so big and odd. To the inexperienced, or at first glance, their legs tucked behind them can look rather a lot like a long, thin tail. Couple that with a pointy beak and a coiled neck to give the appearance of some sort of head frill and voila!- instant pterodactyl (Well, pteranodon, actually, but most people know the other name).

This is not to say that there are no Thunderbirds, of course, just that misidentification is easier than some may think. Personally, I think many Jersey Devil sightings are of Thunderbirds- Red eyes, dark wings and a horse-like head are commonly-reported features of both.

By: Iankidd

Iankidd — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 13:01:58 +0000

It is interesting to look at the “Kirkintilloch Herald” and its report. The two witnesses described the creature in question as a “giant bird” whose wingspan “must have been about eight feet” and which “looked like a pterodactyl”. That description doesn’t really fit that of a heron; but the newspaper seems quite clear that it was a heron. But perhaps this is a new species of heron with eight-foot leathery wings and a distinct lack of feathers?

I’m reminded of Fort’s remarks upon evidence and witnesses: the explanation is “all very well except for what it disregards”. “That, by due care in selection, and disregard for everything else [anything] could be identified with anything [else]” (Book of the Damned, ch3).

By: twblack

twblack — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 01:46:25 +0000

I agree there just could be some big birds still around. I would think that not all of the sightings can be explained as something known. The comment about not knowing much about our oceans. I have read in a couple places we have only searched about 3-4% of our oceans. Now if that is true just think what is out there swimming around that we have no clue about!!!!

By: planettom

planettom — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 18:41:58 +0000

I’ve always heard that we (the US/World) knows more about outerspace than we do about our own oceans. There is so much to be discovered. I would like to take the stance that what if, just what if there are some really big birds out there. I think there could be. Few and far between, but I think there could be the chance.

By: Jeremy_Wells

Jeremy_Wells — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 17:55:54 +0000

re #3 ‘Yet the evidence that a bird as large as the ‘thunderbirds’ exist today in a real physical sense is lacking. I am even driven to consider “time slips” or ghosts to explain some of these sightings, so dramatic they seem in certain cases.’

While I consider myself relatively open minded, I gotta ask…
Why are “time slips” easier for you to consider than a small, flesh and blood population of big birds?