I think thunderbirds, (giant, coal-black birds that are known to carry off people!) are very rare. They are not reported as much as other cryptids, like Bigfoot. In June, I was writing a thunderbird chapter in my second book and decided to start a project on this blog to try to find sightings of thunderbirds and learn more about them.
Now, welcome to the third "Thunderbird Report" on TCZ. This time I really don't have any information on new sighting reports, but there is something on a crop circle found in England in July that may have something to do with Thunderbirds. Also, there is a summary of thunderbird-pterosaur sightings, and why they are not the same thing.
Thunderbird Report, #3, September 14, 2015
SIGHTINGS ON TCZ
So far, no new thunderbird reports here on Tyler's Cryptozoo. If you are reading this and have had a sighting, please comment and tell me about it.
A THUNDERBIRD CROP CIRCLE IN ENGLAND?
On July 27 of this year, UFO Sightings Daily published something about a crop formation (crop circle) that may have something to do with thunderbirds.
On July 25, a crop formation was found in Wiltshire, England that "seems to depict an indian eagle or thunderbird," said the author of the article.
This crop circle certainly does look like a Native American thunderbird in England. Is it fake, or real? If it is real, then maybe, as some people believe, all these unexplained things are connected….
A THUNDERBIRD CROP CIRCLE IN ENGLAND?
On July 27 of this year, UFO Sightings Daily published something about a crop formation (crop circle) that may have something to do with thunderbirds.
On July 25, a crop formation was found in Wiltshire, England that "seems to depict an indian eagle or thunderbird," said the author of the article.
This crop circle certainly does look like a Native American thunderbird in England. Is it fake, or real? If it is real, then maybe, as some people believe, all these unexplained things are connected….
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| A thunderbird in a crop circle? From UFO Sightings Daily |
PTEROSAURS AND THUNDERBIRDS
Some people describe the thunderbirds they saw as not looking like giant birds, but as looking like pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were flying reptiles that lived during the age of the dinosaurs and supposedly died out 65 million years ago. The problem with that - people still report seeing them, today. (People still report dinosaurs, too, especially in Africa.)
People have reported seeing living pterosaurs all over the world. Here, though, I am going to focus on reports from North America, the same place where thunderbird sightings occur.
There was a "flap" of something that looked like a pterosaur in Texas in 1976. On January 11, two ranch hands in Poteet, just south of San Antonio, saw a five-foot tall, birdlike creature standing in the water of a stock tank. Libby and Deany Ford spotted a "big, black bird" around the same time as the other sighting. Three teachers saw something with a fifteen-to twenty-foot wingspan on February 24. "I could see the skeleton of the bird through the skin or feathers or whatever," one of them said. They said the thing glided through the air. When they got to the school, the teachers looked through books to try to find out what they had seen. They soon realized, however, that they should not have seen what they did - because what they saw was supposed to be extinct!
Sightings of supposed live pterosaurs have occurred many times before and since those encounters and have occurred in many states.
On October 10, 2013, a woman in Slidell, Louisiana, was outside and heard something like a loud crow call. She saw a creature about the size of a bird, but it had no feathers and a beak full of teeth. She said it had a long neck and "looked prehistoric." She quickly left because she was afraid the thing might bite her.
Jonathan Whitcomb is a cryptozoologist from California who has written several books on sightings of live pterosaurs, including Searching for Ropens and Live Pterosaurs in America. Many sightings can be found on his website, which you can check out by clicking here. The most recent report he has on there, as of right now, is from August of this year.
Why am I writing about pterosaurs in a Thunderbird Report?
It's to show that, although they are both big flying things, thunderbirds and pterosaurs really aren't the same besides that. Some people lump pterosaur sightings into the thunderbird category, but thunderbirds are actually giant birds, not flying reptiles!
They may have a connection to the prehistoric past, though. Some people thing thunderbirds are surviving teratorns - the largest of these was Argentavis magnificens, which got a wingspan of more than twenty feet! The teratorns were the same size as thunderbirds reported today. Could thunderbirds be surviving teratorns? I think there is a strong possibility.
Whatever thunderbirds are, they are not pterosaurs. That mystery is something completely different.
The next thunderbird report will be posted sometime in October.
Some people describe the thunderbirds they saw as not looking like giant birds, but as looking like pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were flying reptiles that lived during the age of the dinosaurs and supposedly died out 65 million years ago. The problem with that - people still report seeing them, today. (People still report dinosaurs, too, especially in Africa.)
 |
| Pteranodon and Quetzalcoatlus - two of the largest pterosaurs |
People have reported seeing living pterosaurs all over the world. Here, though, I am going to focus on reports from North America, the same place where thunderbird sightings occur.
There was a "flap" of something that looked like a pterosaur in Texas in 1976. On January 11, two ranch hands in Poteet, just south of San Antonio, saw a five-foot tall, birdlike creature standing in the water of a stock tank. Libby and Deany Ford spotted a "big, black bird" around the same time as the other sighting. Three teachers saw something with a fifteen-to twenty-foot wingspan on February 24. "I could see the skeleton of the bird through the skin or feathers or whatever," one of them said. They said the thing glided through the air. When they got to the school, the teachers looked through books to try to find out what they had seen. They soon realized, however, that they should not have seen what they did - because what they saw was supposed to be extinct!
Sightings of supposed live pterosaurs have occurred many times before and since those encounters and have occurred in many states.
On October 10, 2013, a woman in Slidell, Louisiana, was outside and heard something like a loud crow call. She saw a creature about the size of a bird, but it had no feathers and a beak full of teeth. She said it had a long neck and "looked prehistoric." She quickly left because she was afraid the thing might bite her.
 |
| Rhamphorhynchus - a small pterosaur that matches that description |
Jonathan Whitcomb is a cryptozoologist from California who has written several books on sightings of live pterosaurs, including Searching for Ropens and Live Pterosaurs in America. Many sightings can be found on his website, which you can check out by clicking here. The most recent report he has on there, as of right now, is from August of this year.
Why am I writing about pterosaurs in a Thunderbird Report?
It's to show that, although they are both big flying things, thunderbirds and pterosaurs really aren't the same besides that. Some people lump pterosaur sightings into the thunderbird category, but thunderbirds are actually giant birds, not flying reptiles!
They may have a connection to the prehistoric past, though. Some people thing thunderbirds are surviving teratorns - the largest of these was Argentavis magnificens, which got a wingspan of more than twenty feet! The teratorns were the same size as thunderbirds reported today. Could thunderbirds be surviving teratorns? I think there is a strong possibility.
Whatever thunderbirds are, they are not pterosaurs. That mystery is something completely different.
The next thunderbird report will be posted sometime in October.
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