Which is harder to believe?

You’re right. And as I’ve pointed out elsewhere on this site it’s sort of science’s fault. (Although I accept individuals’ protestations that their plates are full, and the nuttiness of some proponent theories makes the field, um, sorta risky.)

If mainstream scientists leave cryptozoology to amateurs, this is what happens.

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Question: So, sir, why do so few people see sasquatch, if they exist? Why is there so little evidence?

Amateur answers:

“Um, he’s a, um, shapeshifter.”

“Um, he’s a, um, time traveler from another world.”

“Um, the saucer people don’t want us to think he’s a regular thing, but in fact a warning…”

“There may be only five.”

“They bury their dead. I’ve seen it.”

“They orb to avoid notice.”

“They are NOT found in Iowa.” (Um, how do you KNOW, sir…?)

Professional answer:

“Actually, lots of people seem to see them. And there’s lots of supporting evidence. We have a head start on the biology of the species from the anecdotal evidence alone. And the data supports statistical investigation and biogeographical expectations. Problem is: if you see one of these, you’re a nut. Kinda makes funding a confirmation effort (not a search, note; people seem already to have found the sasquatch) difficult.”

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Against time-traveling shape-shifting orbing blobsquatch, all of a sudden

“inexplicable mass hallucination” or

“a continent of lying hoaxers working in league” or

“one or two incredible geniuses, wasting their time for peanuts when they could blaze new scientific trails - or make the biggest fortunes ever - with their smarts”

sound, well, almost rational.

then i herby claim otterism for water bound cryptids on behalf of cryptomundo

As one who thinks the white pelican is probably America’s most easily identifiable bird in flight (bald eagle? Please….)

…I STILL think one could mistake one for a UFO. Like I almost did when I saw a pair of them over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal a few Octobers back.

They were NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE.

(Although they not only winter, but summer far inland, for example, Grand Teton and Yellowstone NPs.)

So now? Well, of course, a small party of them has spent the past, say, three or so winters at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Dorchester County, MD. Neither this nor the C&D is “far inland.” They are, however, far from where you should expect white pelicans. Ever.

That was then, I guess, and now is now. I just wish they’d prepared me better.

Birds, as Roger Tory Peterson once put it, have wings, and they do things.

Couldn’t resist.

Did want to ask, though. Aren’t those pelican-feeding-young illustrations kinda missing, well, what makes a pelican a pelican…? Like, the beak that holds more than its belican?

Talk about pelicanism.