Very large flying birds ride the winds. Possibly condors, very large tropical eagles, geese, cranes, storks, pelicans, or even albatrosses may occasionally get blown many miles from their usual habitats by strong upper-level winds or freak storms. Maybe these account for some of the thunderbird sightings.

I’m sure that human astonishmnet, and the shock of suddenly being confronted with the sight of a very large, unfamiliar bird, causes some people to overestimate the size of the bird they have seen, especially if they see it only fleetingly. Unless there is an object of known size relatively nearby for comparison, it is sometimes hard for even experienced people to judge a bird’s size against the sky.

I think that the existence of thunderbirds as a distinct, scientifically undescribed species is extremely unlikely.

I understand distance and perception have a large role to play in this sort of siting, but here it is:
I was driving down 11A in Gilford, NH (near Gunstock Mountain) I caught a shadow from the corner of my eye. It was a clearly bird, and seemed rather large, so I assumed it was flying at a relatively close distance, almost parallel to me.

But then I saw it pass out of view, BEHIND one of the mountains in the distance, and realized it had to have been much farther away than I thought, and thus much, much larger than a normal bird.

Later that same summer while walking along the creek, about 10 feet from the edge of the water. The creek at this time was 25-30 across. Something caught my attention from behind. As I quickly turned, and watched as a very large bird came flying by, several feet above the water level. But this bird was huge, its wing span covering most of the width of the creek. The tips appeared to have fingertips, like an eagle, its color was a dark brown black, and there was no difference in the color of the head. The bird just as quickly flew away.

I had the chance to discuss both sightings with one of the senior bird keepers at Brookfield Zoo. His initial response was that the bird was a golden eagle, but when I insisted that the wing span was to big, he said that no birds that large other than condors existed, but not in Illinois.

Could this be a Thunderbird? I’ve reviewed several websites and their sightings reports. There was a number of sightings during 1977 in central and northern Illinois, which could have been the year I saw the bird.

Is there any place where I can find out more information on this size bird that inhabits Illinois?

Matt Bille, I just want to say that all accounts I’ve read about giant birds have come from people who aren’t birders. Like me. Not out for notoriety in the bird world, just saw something extraordinary and want to share the experience. Sorry I didn’t have a camera, but I was pretty awestruck and wasn’t about to move. It would’ve been gone by the time I found a camera, anyway.

I wonder if some witnesses actually underestimate the size of the bird. 12 feet sounds crazy, so let’s just say 4.

But the one I saw was MUCH MUCH bigger than me, and I’m 5′5″.

If birders wanted to look for it, maybe they need to go where it would likely be — in Illinois near water and away from people. Probably not where most birders would go looking for birds.

I saw this bird almost 20 years ago, and the picture of it will never leave my head. It was huge and ugly, and it was awesome.

I’m sorry, but that and the comment by one unnamed birdwatcher sighted by Mr. Hall don’t convince me. “Absence of evidence is not evidence of absense,” but Loren, you seem to be implying that absence of evidence is evidence of presence - in other words, “maybe they do” is supposed to mean we should imply that they do.

As to the ridicule factor, the works I’ve read since the ivory-bill rediscovery claim include accounts of people who did report ivory-bills even though they expected, and usually received, ridicule.

A point of difference between the ivory bill and the Tbird is that the former pecks out relatively inconspicuous nests. If the Tbird nests in treetops or on outcrops, the nests must be larger than those of eagles. That no one has ever found one such nest makes me lean to the view that, at some point, absence of evidence is indeed evidence of absence.

I don’t doubt the witness’ sincerity, but it’s easy (as I can attest) to overestimate an ainmal’s size, especially in the in-flight reports. The fact that hundreds of thousands of birders armed with spotting scopes, cameras, and videos haven’t turned up any Tbirds implies to me there are no Tbirds to turn up.

Respectfully,

Matt Bille

It stood in the pond, looking around with scary bulging eyes. It looked haggard and tired, as though it had been traveling a long time. It also looked like it could kill me. After about a minute, it flew away.

I did not hear thunder from its wings; it’s wings moved slow and heavy when it took off, and barely made a sound.

I got a pretty good look at it as it was about 100 feet away, with nothing to block my view. I’m not sure how deep the pond is where the bird was standing, but even if the pond was low that day, it would have been at least four feet. I could easily see the bird’s knees. They were very thick and knobly. Long grey leg, thicker than say a stork. It must’ve been over 10 feet tall, probably more like 12 feet. It’s neck was long and grey and its body had brownish grey feathers. It was ugly, it had no color, almost like it was a sketch and not real. It looked pre-historic, but not like a raptor.

If Harvester would be so kind as to post the name of the show he saw with footage of the bird, I would greatly appreciate it.