Congratulations, you were lucky enough to see an immature Golden Eagle! They are huge birds, truly magnificent, and the young have white patches on the wings. Check out this image:

As for the mystery “birds” in the original post, obviously they are not all birds - if it doesn’t have feathers, it isn’t a bird, end of story. No feathers + wings = bat, extinct flying reptile, insect, or human in a costume. I dearly want to believe in extant ‘Thunderbirds’ (birds that large did exist in the not-so-distant geological past), mainly because that would mean North America has enough large mammal carcasses and pristine mountainsides to support a population of giant scavengers. Unfortunately, I know how easy it is to misjudge the size of impressive, normal raptors and even non-raptors (e.g. storks and herons, actually quite intimidatingly large critters). I cannot tell you how many times I have seen birds like Turkey Vultures with people who are non-bird watchers, and hear these people say the birds had wingspans as large as roads or stood as tall as the car. If I hadn’t been there and seen the birds myself, I might allow myself to believe their stories. Of course, I am certain that there ARE eyewitnesses who are not exaggerating the size of the birds they’ve seen, but until we can get some CONCLUSIVE proof, I have to insist that these reports might just be misidentified known species. We need a specimen, or at least a photo that isn’t photoshopped or taken at such an angle that size estimation is impossible.

It might seem that forgetting the date of any incident would be reason enough to pause and reflect on the validity of the information offered by a witness. But this is not necessarily true. With anomalous events, it is the event itself that has priority. It is the event itself that provides the focus for memory. The more anomalous the event, the greater the stress placed on memory. The actual date of the event becomes secondary. As time passes the exact dates may recede, but the energy for the event may remain intact.

Inexact or poorly remembered dates do not necessarily imply hoax or deception. To the contrary, a hoaxer would probably have an EXACT date to support his fabricated story.

In my case I have had anomalous experiences. The dates I remember mostly because I have written them down, but my experience is strong . . . and remain distrubing to me.

Akualele
Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

but this post is like top 5 easily (for me) that i have read here thanks alot!
It’s hard to get a lot of information on pterosaur sightings, this is awesome. A lot of the characteristics in this post definitely mirror other reports that i have read about.

This makes me want to look up more often. I mean seriously. Anyhow, I’m left with legitimate hope that i might see an actual pterosaur one day.

FYI, umbrellas are handy in case a large bird or flying animal attacks you.
If I were a Hollywood producer, I would insist on a new movie entitled “Mary Poppins verse the Pterosaur”.

Anyhow, thanks again

So, in February, the date couldn’t be determined as closer than “late September or early October”, but the witness remembered all those other details? Pardon me if I get a bit dubious here. We have a wealth of other details (time, description, color, even a measurement against the width of the road), but the date of the sighting couldn’t be pinned down any closer than that only 4 months later?

Now, add in “a picture of a teratorn” as the closest match, and I immediately ask “which picture of a teratorn”? Was it one of the condor like reconstructions, or one of the others, which look more like big hawks or eagles, or something else?

The simple combination of a multitude of other details but an extremely fuzzy date raises the red “hoax” flag to me.

Justlooking’s massive bird in with the kettle of Turkey Vultures is likely a juvenile Golden Eagle, which is rare in the eastern US but can occur annually pretty much anywhere.

In regards to the overestimating of size, I think that something similar goes on with a lot of megabird accounts. However, that has no bearing on sightings of creatures that resemble extinct pterosaurs!

I was most surprised by the last number because the Bald Eagle is smaller than the Stellar Sea Eagle, the Harpy Eagle and the Philippine Eagle.

Just making small talk while we wait for the pics

Is there a norm for Thunderbird descriptions?

How widespread are Native American stories of Thunderbirds?

Wasn’t there a fossil discovery of an incredibly large Condor type bird last year in South America?

How much weight could a bird that large carry? Isn’t there a problem with size having diminishing returns on being able to fly?