I apologize for the lack of posts lately. As I noted on my Facebook page and on Twitter, I have taken a summer job with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and they are getting every bit of their money’s worth out of me. I applied for a part-time position for which I would have worked somewhere between 10-20 hours per week. After going through the interview process I was offered a full-time position for which I would work a minimum of 40 hours per week. I was a bit hesitant as I realized this would put a crimp in my summer activities but felt I should not turn the opportunity down for a couple of reasons. First, and foremost, I needed the supplemental income. I have a daughter going to Baylor University and really want to accrue as little debt as possible in getting her through school. Second, it is the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. I would be on the inside, so to speak. If things were to go well I might be able to get on with them once I retire from teaching and coaching. It just would have felt irresponsible and lazy to turn the job down.
As a result, though, I’ve been pretty whipped upon arriving home each evening and haven’t felt much like writing. I have several topics lined up but just haven’t had the energy to sit down and bang out a post. Something happened today that changed that, however.
My wife and I made a trip to a furniture store to pick up a mattress and box spring for my oldest daughter’s room. After loading the mattress and box spring into the back of my truck we started home. The furniture store is not far from my home so I didn’t feel any need to tie the load down. I planned to wind around some back roads and drive slowly on the trek home so that nothing blew out of the truck. We were about halfway home when something very strange happened. We were negotiating a curve in the road when something huge swooped down out of the tree line and flashed in front of the truck. It was clearly a bird of some kind but was absolutely huge. My wife actually spoke first saying, “Did you see that?” I replied that I, indeed, had seen it and quickly braked to a stop. I jumped out of the truck in the hopes of getting another glimpse of the bird but it was gone. As I climbed back into the truck my wife said, “It was almost as big as a plane! What was that?” I said that I had no idea and started the drive home. I scanned the sky the rest of the way but saw nothing unusual.
My wife’s comment about the bird being the size of a plane was a bit hyperbolic but have to admit that I had the same impression. The bird was huge. It was simply stunning to see. I’m trying to be reasonable and realistic but this bird’s wingspan had to be in excess of 10 feet. It was dark in color but not black. It was definitely brown. This leads me to believe it was not a turkey vulture or black vulture (both species are common here and are large). My wife suggested an owl but I don't think so. Turkeys are native to the area and are big birds but this was far bigger than any I've seen in the wild and was too strong a flier to fit that bill. I really can't say what it was. It was a bit surreal, to be honest. I was glad my wife was with me as most of the time I’m alone when I see weird stuff. She was pretty excited by the whole thing and has been talking about it since we got home.
In my mind, the most likely suspect is the North American Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The coloration of the bird I saw would fit that of the Golden Eagle but what about the size? Some quick internet research yielded the fact that Golden Eagles do get quite large. The average wingspan of the species is somewhere in the 6-8 ft. range. The average weight of the species, however, is only 9-14 lbs. The bird my wife and I saw sure seemed to have a larger wingspan than this and I would absolutely say it weighed more than 14 lbs. Even so, I have to think that the Golden Eagle is the most likely culprit. But do Golden Eagles live here? As if often the case, that is a more complicated question than it at first seems. Most distribution maps do not show the Central Texas area as accepted Golden Eagle habitat. Having said that, the maps show that the accepted range for these birds of prey isn't so far west that an adventurous individual couldn't find his way to the area from time to time.
It must have been a Golden Eagle...right?
I guess this sighting did accomplish a couple of positive things. First, it energized me enough to get me back to the keyboard and do a write-up. The second thing that it accomplished was sucking my wife into my bizarre cryptozoological hobby. While she has always stood behind me and believed me when I’ve recounted some of my strange encounters there is nothing quite like seeing something strange firsthand.
Who knows? Maybe we’ll see a “Mrs. Texas Cryptid Hunter” blog coming soon…
The following was posted under the comments section of my post titled "Texas Pterosaurs" today:
"In 2007, my brother was talking to a man and his son that my brother occasionally worked with that lives in his trailer park in Edinburgh, Texas. The man and his son said they had been fishing in the canal behind the trailer park the weekend before. They said a giant bird landed in the canal a hundred yards from them and was wading around in the water apparently looking for food. The bird saw them and it wasn't afraid of them. It was wading towards them. The man said it was big enough to easily carry off the son, and they got scared and left. The man told my brother they will never fish there again."
Since this was posted as a comment anonymously I have no way of contacting this person to ask any follow up questions. Obvious things like color, estimated size, was the head of the bird feathered or bald, how long were the legs of the bird in relation to the rest of the body, etc. will remain a mystery. Since this is a second-hand report, these questions would likely have remained unanswered regardless.
As always, I cannot vouch for the veracity of reports that come to me in this manner. While I have no reason to believe this person is pulling my leg, I can't guarantee it. That being the case, take the report for what it is.
If there is anyone else out there that has seen an unusually large bird I would like to hear about it.
A Rockwall, Texas roofing contractor named Gary Byrd made a very significant fossil discovery earlier this year. According to an article posted on the Science Daily website, Byrd discovered what are likely bones from the wing of a pterosaur. Specifically, the bones likely belong to a flying reptile dubbed Pteranodon. Pterandodon was a fairly typical type of pterosaur that had broad leathery wings and a slim torso and likely fits the picture most of us envision when we picture a “pterodactyl” with a bony crest.
This particular specimen would have died roughly 89 million years ago. This would make it the oldest Pteranodon specimen ever found found in North America by 1-2 million years and the second oldest example of a pteranodontid in the world. The find is special due to the rarity of pterosaur fossils.
Timothy S. Myers, a paleontologist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said, “Any pterosaur material is fairly rare to find unless you have exceptional preservation conditions. They are frail, fragile bones, and they require rapid burial to be well preserved.” Myers added that the find of multiple bones, all from the creature’s left wing, is unusual. He pointed out that typical finds are of only one bone or a piece of one bone.
Pteranodon was a type of pterosaur that lived during the age of the dinosaurs in the late Triassic Period. Early pterosaurs had thin sharp teeth but later the toothed variety disappeared and the toothless forms, like Pteranodon, took their place. The pterosaurs were mainly fish eaters who flew above what is now Texas during a time when a large ancient sea bisected the North American continent from the Arctic to the Gulf of Mexico. Pteranodon was large, with a wingspan of 12-13 feet, but far from the biggest pterosaur that ever lived. It likely subsisted almost entirely on fish and may have floated on ocean thermals for days at a time in search of prey.
The DFW area has actually yielded a wealth of pterosaur fossils. Remains of both the toothless and toothed varieties have been found in the area. In particular, the remains of a toothed type of pterosaur called Aetodactylus halli, which lived approximately 95 million years ago, was found in the area and also positively identified by Myers.
“This new specimen adds a lot more information about pterosaurs in North America,” Myers said. “It helps constrain the timing of the transition from the toothed to toothless because there’s only a few million years separating this specimen and Aetodactylus.”
The fact that pterosaurs once did soar about what would become the Lone Star State has, once again, led some to ask if they could still exist and, if so, be candidates to explain the sightings of giant flying creatures or “thunderbirds” that filter in mainly from South and West Texas. Is it possible? Could a small population of pterosaurs, maybe even Pteranodon itself, have survived to this day? As has been covered here before, some reports seem to point to this possibility. Following is an excerpt from a post I did on thunderbirds back in November of 2010 titled Texas Pterosaurs:
“In 1976 two San Benito, Texas police officers, Arturo Padilla and Homer Galvan, reported seeing what was to become known as the "Texas Big Bird". While that might invoke images of the Sesame Street character to most people, rest assured, the creature seen by these officers fit the description of a pterosaur...
...In February of the same year, it was reported that several school teachers were "dive-bombed" by a creature matching the description of a pterosaur on their way to work. They reported the creature's wingspan to be at least 12 feet in length.”
What has also been pointed out on this site is that the chances of there being living pterosaurs of any kind left in Texas is very, very slim. TBRC Chairman Alton Higgins, spurred by reported sightings of living pterosaurs off the coast of New Guinea, pointed out that what the researchers were likely seeing were frigatebirds. Alton, in an article titled Pterosaurs and Thunderbirds, also pointed out that, while mainly seafaring by nature, frigatebirds do, on occasion, venture far inland and could be candidates for Texas pterosaurs. An excerpt from Alton’s piece reads as follows:
“All in all, the typical Texan would not be expected to see a frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) in his or her lifetime and would be even less likely to know what they were seeing. The fact that these impressive birds, with their singular appearance, range rarely and unexpectedly into unfamiliar domains could account for some of the reports from baffled witnesses who mistakenly relate their sightings to extinct and mysterious creatures.”
I have to say that I agree with Alton Higgins and feel it is highly unlikely any pterosaurs have survived into modern times. I stated several possible explanations for pterosaur sightings back in the Texas Pterosaurs post in 2010. I’ll not rehash all that now. I will add that the fact that pterosaurs were mainly fish-eaters makes it even more unlikely that they would be seen in the arid deserts of South and West Texas even if they had somehow survived to the present day.
So, in my opinion, even though Texas was once home to many of these creatures, pterosaurs are not particularly good candidates for the thunderbirds seen on occasion by people in Texas and the southwest. This in no way dampens my enthusiasm for the fossil find of Gary Byrd. It is a significant find and, as Timothy S. Myers of SMU pointed out, it will help further our knowledge of these ancient flying reptiles.
It just doesn’t further our knowledge of what the thunderbirds people continue to report might be.
Source: Southern Methodist University. "Rare 89-million-year-old flying reptile fossil from Texas may be world's oldest pteranodon." ScienceDaily, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Sep. 2011.
Periodically, people in South and/or West Texas report sightings of giant flying creatures. Sometimes, the animals are described as huge vulture or raptor-like birds; however, some report creatures resembling prehistoric "pterodactyls". It is this latter category of sightings that I'm going to address presently. Could a small population of pterosaurs have survived to the present day and be living in the arid Southwestern region of Texas? Could these creatures be behind at least some of the thunderbird sightings coming out of the area?
There are some photos that have circulated around the internet for years that suggest the pterosaurs have survived into modern times. Some of these are shown below.
Only two photos have really intrigued me at all. One of these photos shows a rancher, allegedly from the 1950s, holding a small pterosaur-like creature. The other photo I find interesting is the famous "thunderbird photo" which shows a large pterosaur nailed to the outside wall of an old homestead with several men in the foreground. Is it possible? Could pterosaurs still live?
There is a candidate in the fossil record that matches the description given by some witnesses who claim to have seen living flying pterosaurs. Currently, paleontologists recognize the previous existence of four species of giant pterosaurs, one of which that soared in the skies above what would become Texas some 70 million years ago. Quetzalcoatlus northropi is thought to be the largest flying animal that has ever lived. These reptiles were truly massive with 30-50 foot wingspans and heights approaching that of the modern day giraffe. This "Dragon of the Clouds" had a long neck, slender toothless jaws, and a head topped by a large bony crest. This flying beast was slight in build and probably weighed in the 200 lb. range. This is exactly the picture most of us envision when the word "pterodactyl" or "pterosaur" is uttered.
Could Quetzalcoatlus northropi still glide above the Lone Star State? Some anecdotal evidence suggests just that. In 1976 two San Benito, Texas police officers, Arturo Padilla and Homer Galvan, reported seeing what was to become known as the "Texas Big Bird". While that might invoke images of the Sesame Street character to most people, rest assured, the creature seen by these officers fit the description of a pterosaur. Shortly after the sighting by the two officers, Brownsville resident Alverico Guajardo had a frightening experience. About 9:30pm he heard a loud thumping noise outside of his mobile home. He looked out of his front door and saw what he described as a bird of monstrous proportions. But was it a bird at all? Guajardo said, "It's a bird but it's not a bird. He paused then added, "That animal is not from this world." Sightings of the "Big Bird" continued and tracks attributed to it were located. The tracks, measuring 12 inches in length were shown on a local television station. The resulting hullaballoo caught the attention of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department personnel who feared endangered whooping cranes might be mistaken for the "Big Bird" and shot. The TP&W issued a simple statement that said, "ALL birds are protected by state or federal law." In February of the same year, it was reported that several school teachers were "dive-bombed" by a creature matching the description of a pterosaur on their way to work. They reported the creature's wingspan to be at least 12 feet in length. There are other reports but you get the idea.
What are these people seeing? Is there a known animal out there that people could be mistaking for a pterosaur? I think this is very likely the case in many of the reports that describe large vulture-like feathered birds. I had an experience about a year ago when I did a double take initially thinking a massive bird was flying above me. I was out doing some maintenance on one of my game cameras in Central Texas in an area that was heavily populated by black vultures. There were several of these large birds circling overhead. I had paused to rest and was sitting on a log looking up at them when suddenly a bird three times the size of the others flew across my field of vision. At least it seemed the bird was three times the size of the others. It turned out to be a trick of perspective. I was focused on the vultures gliding a couple of hundred feet above me. The "giant" bird, it turned out, was flying considerably lower than these others. I realized this only when I saw this vulture light in the top of a large tree. Just for a few seconds I was taken aback by what my eyes told me was a huge bird.
Fine, you may be thinking, tricks of perspective might explain some of the sightings of enormous feathered BIRDS. Pterosaurs don't look like birds. What could explain these sightings. Well, sometimes birds do look like pterosaurs. As has been discussed here before, the frigate bird is a very likely candidate for at least some of the pterosaur sightings. Guest blogger Alton Higgins aptly summed up how this large bird could be mistaken for a pterosaur in flight. Revisit Alton's post here and check the photos below showing a female frigate bird in flight contrasted to what is purported to be a photo of a pterosaur in Papua New Guinea. As you can see they are all but identical. A person who reports a pterosaur in flight may very well be seeing a frigate bird.
But what of close-up sightings like that of Alverico Guajardo? These are more difficult to explain away. Certainly it is possible, if not likely, that hoaxes are being perpetrated in some cases. There are cases out there; however, where witnesses have been duly vetted and, seemingly, have nothing to gain by making things up. What animal could they be seeing that they are mistaking for a pterosaur? Up close no bird looks like a pterosaur. What about a bat of some kind? The wings of a bat are similar to what a pterosaur's would look like in that they are bare of feathers/hair. Bats in Texas are small, however, and no species would be big enough to be mistaken for a pterosaur. The largest bats in the world, the flying foxes, have wingspans of only 6 feet or so and are all found in other parts of the world and, therefore, not candidates for Texas pterosaurs.
What about some man-made aircraft? Standard sized airplanes are certainly not candidates for misidentification. That being said, ultralight aircraft have become very popular over the last couple of decades. The term ultralight refers to any one of several types of lightweight one or two person airplanes. The craze took off in the 1970s when many were looking for a cheap way to fly. In Texas, and most of the U.S., no license or training is required to fly ultralights. There are several different types of aircraft that share the ultralight designation, several of which that could conceivably be mistaken, at a distance, for a pterosaur. This possibility is further enhanced now that battery powered ultralights are becoming more common. These aircraft are virtually silent and eliminate the buzz of the small gasoline engines common to older models. Most would not expect an ultralight to fly silently and jump to another conclusion.
There are some other products out there that are actually meant to mimic pterosaurs in flight. Kites are among the most common. From a distance, the kites below could be mistaken for a gliding, dipping, and diving pterosaur. The string would be all but invisible to witnesses and could fool some into thinking they were seeing a live animal. Check out the product description for the Blackwing Brand kite seen in the picture below:
This prehistoric predator has great presence in the sky with a huge 11 foot wingspan. It's 3-dimensional body and tail both inflate and it's wings actually flap in the wind! Recommended 150 lb. Test Line, sold separately. Product size 11 ft x 15 ft.
It isn't too much of a stretch to think a kite with an 11 foot wingspan and wings that actually flap could hoodwink some people.
Finally, there are several radio-controlled airplanes on the market that mimic the look of pterosaurs. Check the video out below and the pictures below that.
Again, one can imagine how easily a person, not expecting to see something like this, could be totally taken aback and think they saw a real animal.
Frigate birds, ultralight aircraft, kites, and model airplanes. Do these things explain away all pterosaur sightings? No. I do believe they could explain some, however. These are just some of the possibilities that need to be investigated when a witness reports a pterosaur sighting.
Personally, I have a hard time buying into the ancient pterosaur as an explanation for modern day thunderbird sightings. Now I do have some thoughts on whether or not giant birds; true, feathered birds, might fly the skies of Texas and other parts of the world.
Today will mark the first time I have featured a guest blogger. I could not have asked for a better one. Alton Higgins is the Chairman of the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy, a college professor of Biology, wildlife biologist, and a noted birder. He is also my good friend.
Alton has been very supportive of this blog and has offered several very helpful suggestions regarding how to make it better. When he told me he had written up a piece on the possibility of living Pterosaurs/Thunderbirds I knew it would be a great fit for this blog. Alton's piece is below:
Pterosaurs and Thunderbirds
A recent article at Salem-News.com related startling claims from explorers searching for pterosaurs in Papua New Guinea. Young Earth Creationists have long espoused the theory that pterosaurs live in that region, and expeditions have been repeatedly mounted to document their existence with the notion that such a discovery would serve to discredit evolutionary theory.
The explorers, Jim Blume and David Woetzel, president of “Genesis Park,” have collected eyewitness accounts of living pterosaurs “from frightened natives,” and claim to have seen the creatures themselves. Woetzel even shot video of a flying “pterosaur” in broad daylight. His video accompanies the Salem-News.com article. http://is.gd/eVsGZ
Unfortunately, the video clearly shows a frigatebird, a large pelagic fish eating bird that obtains most of its food while flying, not a pterosaur. Five species of frigatebird are found throughout the world’s tropical oceans. Frigatebirds typically breed on remote oceanic islands and are consummate aerialists, capable of spending weeks in continuous flight and often ranging far from land.
While this blatantly obvious conclusion regarding the identity of the bird does not, in itself, preclude the possibility that some “frightened natives” have seen living pterosaurs, it does present doubts regarding the reported sightings of Blume and Woetzel. The purpose of this article, however, is to put a Texas twist on the issue of misidentifications, not to delve into the existence of pterosaurs in the South Pacific.
Unusually large mysterious flying creatures have long been reported from the Lone Star State. Just as is the case in Papua New Guinea, these seemingly inexplicable sightings are sometimes ascribed to pterosaur-like creatures. Others are sometimes called Thunderbirds, an evidently generic term applied to what appear to be huge birds that are otherwise rarely seen. A high percentage of these sightings originate in the southern part of Texas along the Mexican border. Author Ken Gerhard chronicles these kinds of sightings in his 2007 book “Big Bird! Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters.” Is it possible that some of these flying monsters are misidentified frigatebirds?
Frigatebirds are stiking creatures. In fact, the frigatebird species most likely to be observed in or near Texas is named the Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). They have huge wingspans at seven and a half feet, comparable to those of Bald Eagles. By comparison, a frigatebird would seem to dwarf the familiar Red-tailed Hawk and its four-foot wingspread. The frigatebird’s size and unusual appearance would instantly attract attention, especially if it were to be seen in desert or prairie environments, far from its normal haunts in the farthest reaches of the open sea. As unlikely as this may appear at first glance, frigatebirds DO sometimes wander inland.
Mlodinow (1998) summarizes the occasional meanderings of frigatebirds into the American interior. He states that Magnificent Frigatebirds have been reported as far inland as Colorado, more than 700 miles from the nearest saltwater. There are eight frigatebird records for Oklahoma and four from Kansas, one a mere sixty miles from Nebraska. New Mexico has six records.
It should be obvious that, given the above records, frigatebirds also can be seen away from the ocean in Texas. However, even though it is not considered all that unusual to see frigatebirds along the Texas coast or in pelagic regions (Mlodinow characterizes them as uncommon, but not rare, summer visitors), records of the birds more than fifty miles from the coast “are exceedingly scarce.” All these records occurred in the fall and “were related to hurricane or tropical storm activity.”
All in all, the typical Texan would not be expected to see a frigatebird in his or her lifetime and would be even less likely to know what they were seeing. The fact that these impressive birds, with their singular appearance, range rarely and unexpectedly into unfamiliar domains could account for some of the reports from baffled witnesses who mistakenly relate their sightings to extinct and mysterious creatures.
Alton Higgins
4 September 2010
References
Aym, Terrence. 12 Aug. 2010. Dinosaur Found Alive: Two Species Recorded in Papua New Guinea. Salem-News.com. http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august122010/live-dinosaur-ta.php
Mlodinow, Steven G. 1998. The Magnificent Frigatebird in Western North America. Field Notes (Now North American Birds) Vol. 52(4): 413-419. http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/NAB/v052n04/p00413-p00419.pdf.
Other Links
Genesis Park http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/home.htm
Posts
