Comments on: More Thunderbird

By: jordan_

jordan_ — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:47:55 +0000

I’d say a turkey vulture. I think they are on the extinction list but you never know about those refugee colonies.

By: Know it all

Know it all — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:09:57 +0000

Looking at the overall photo one immediately sees over the leftmost SUV a dark pole rising up and bisecting two illuminated globes (delineation of the pole weaker just as it approaches the two burned-in globes glare superimposed in front of the leftmost apartment complex) with a double crescent darker canopy metallic housing indicated just over the burned in globe lenses.

Then to the right of the photo one sees the identical scenario (albeit closer) with brilliant sky sunset fooling the camera and burning completely in the top of the pole.

Now extraordinary evidence would be required to prove otherwise.

Blow-up shows coloration suggestive of bald eagle. Strike one – Eyewitness reports don’t generally describe a pure white head, yellow feet and dark bown body for “Thunderbirds”.

Blow-up is too squashed top to bottom (for a natural bird pose) while the parking lot photo objects are undistorted. Strike two.

Looking at the Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers sign illuminated below to the left one can tell by the sharpness/detail and perspective destance of the “Thunderbird” that it would have to be somewhat forward of the Wendy’s sign in distance to the camera (or at farthest approximately over the sign).

Here is a similar Wendy’s sign:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Wendys_Brantford_ne.JPG

All one need do IF the parking lot lamp pole was not visible going up to the “Thunderbird” is count the standard 8″ long brick courses in the Wendy’s photo per window panel and count the glazed panels going up to the Wendy’s sign. One comes up to @ 8′ or so for the red letters length – equivalent to the superimposed width of the dark double crescent object in the photo if it was directly over. As the sharpness of the object is greater than that of the sign inspite of the burn in glare, one would safely assume that the object in nearer the camera and therefore smaller than @ 8′ in width.

By: alanborky

alanborky — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:47:13 +0000

Can’t someone go to the Walmart concerned – or indeed any Walmart – and take a picture of any lamps there with topmost fixtures of that shape, at that height?

By: UCTZoology

UCTZoology — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:19:39 +0000

Loren I was not intending to shoot the messenger nor trying to be sarcastic (cryptidsrus), and certainly appreciate your ‘thoroughness.’ I was actually referring to the blogger who undertook the analysis.

By: Ursawolf

Ursawolf — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:31:28 +0000

If it is just the top of the lamp post, why is it slightly off-center from the pole? When I look at the enlarged photo and hold a straight-edge along the pole, the bird shape is a bit to the left of the pole. Can that be explained as a camera distortion or optical illusion? Just asking the experts here……..

By: mfs

mfs — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:02:34 +0000

I’ve seen raptors such as Red-Tailed Hawks, Cooper Hawks, Peregrine Falcons and the occasional Turkey Buzzard soaring about the skies above Pittsburgh. Seagulls can be seen along the Allegheny-Mon and Ohio Rivers. About the only out-of-place bird I saw a few years back was a Brown Pelican and that was in a Wal-Mart parking lot. As far as this “alleged” Thunderbird photo goes I concur with those that it’s a lamppost. Westmoreland County bordering Allegheny County has been a “hotspot” for “Thunderbird” sightings for years. I’ve yet to see one though.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:57:40 +0000

I still “like” the picture—
In the sense that it reminds even the most passionate CrytoPerson about the extent of how the eye can be “tricked.”

UCTZoology—-

Like Loren said—he was being “thorough”-no need for sarcasm.

By: norman-uk

norman-uk — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:16:15 +0000

First thing I saw for the first time this eve when I switched my computer on was two glowing orbs , yes the mystery shape now does look like a couple of lights to me also. There are some problems still, like the lamp post curving away at the top and other items etc. etc. I suspect there have been some changes in the area since 2007 so the street view is a bit different maybe including the street lights and this has caused me problems.
There is another flying creature above the Master Care premises to the left of the car park entrance. Perhaps a little baby thunderbird? Please leave me a little mystery!

By: Imaginary Friend

Imaginary Friend — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:22:21 +0000

It’s a very dramatic picture of a lampost in a parking lot.

I agree that at that distance, even if it is a bird, it’s not Thunderbird-worthy. There are plenty of suburban birds that are big, as people have mentioned: blue herons, vultures, large hawks, young eagles. I even saw some honkin’ big Canada Geese strolling through my store parking lot the other day. (pardon the pun)

By: DNS

DNS — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 18:16:28 +0000

Holy cow! Has no one else noticed the rectangular shape at the top of the “enhanced” “bird” image? The same shape as the light fixtures at the tops of the poles in the Google images? And on the other poles in the original image? It’s easy to determine which pole in the Wal Mart parking lot is directly beneath the “bird,” so anyone trying to claim this is something other than a light fixture needs to account for the whereabouts of the rest of the pole that just happens to be beneath the “bird.” I thought everyone knew what happens when all or part of a photograph is overexposed, but obviously I was wrong.

I am beginning to think there will be people who desperately cling to an anomalous explanation even after someone goes to that Wal Mart and replicates the photo on a clear day, with the light fixtures in plain sight. As they are on Google’s Street View.