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Strange "Bird" Sighting


curiouscatamount

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Hi All,

I experienced a strange sighting about a month ago and wanted to see if anyone on here knew what I had seen or had a similar sighting.  

I live in Burlington, Vermont, and driving home from work one night, I saw a rather large winged creature perched on top of one of the street lights.  I couldn't get the greatest look at it as it was dark, snowy, and I was driving around 50 mph, but from what I can remember, it had long, black flowing feathers, glowing (I'm assuming from the reflection from my headlights) eyes, and dangling/fleshy loose skin from the neck up.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good look at its face either as I was driving by so I can't give a better description, but its head was pretty sizeable for a bird (I'd say around the size of a football).  I asked around on local Burlington forums and Craigslist and got some interesting feedback - most of which thought it was either a turkey or turkey vulture - but judging by the pictures I've looked up, I'm 90% sure that this isn't what I saw.  I did receive one voicemail from Craigslist that really caught my interest with a sighting quite similar to mine, but the lady won't answer my calls when I call the number.  Other than that, I haven't really had anything else that was helpful so I decided to come here.

Does this sound like anything you have ever seen or heard of?  I'm wondering if it may have been some sort of mutated bird?  Or maybe it wasn't even a normal "bird" as the girl described her sighting as not having a beak.  Any thoughts?  I started a blog about it if you are interested in seeing all the feedback I have collected as I am still trying to piece everything together.  www.curiositykilledthecatamount.wordpress.com

Thanks for any information!

-Christian

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First thing that jumps out at me is the fact that you were so intrigued by just a quick sighting to go to these lengths to learn more. Too bad you didn't pull over at your first chance and go back and investigate or take pictures.

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Batman wearing a feather boa, on the way to a secret drag-queen party. 

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Your description does sound a lot like a turkey vulture. I don't know if you have ever seen one or not, but they're very large birds, and I would imagine one would look quite imposing sitting atop a light pole. With no feathers on the neck or head, this seems to be the most likely explanation for what you saw. They don't look all that big when they're up in the sky flying, but when they're on the ground they're gigantic.

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I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and say what you might have sighted was either a Great Blue Heron or a Small Blue Heron (don't let the name fool you. They are still sizable birds).  They love to perch on tall things and they have flowing feathers with a sort of waddle hanging down their necks. 

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Might it have been a Raven? They can get pretty big. A lot bigger then a regular crow.

Or, did the fleshy neck look red like a vulture?

raven.jpg

Maybe a Cormorant?

614839yYw271C814.lg_.jpg

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I saw a rather large winged creature perched on top of one of the street lights.

(I'm assuming from the reflection from my headlights)

 

 

I would say you really need to get your headlights adjusted, badly.

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The Raven i had looked massive when he was crouched up,he even used to impress me sometimes when he would fly onto my fist and"Mantle"what ever food I happened to have for him,however I never saw him fly in the dark

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18 hours ago, curiouscatamount said:

Hi All,

I experienced a strange sighting about a month ago and wanted to see if anyone on here knew what I had seen or had a similar sighting.  

I live in Burlington, Vermont, and driving home from work one night, I saw a rather large winged creature perched on top of one of the street lights.  I couldn't get the greatest look at it as it was dark, snowy, and I was driving around 50 mph, but from what I can remember, it had long, black flowing feathers, glowing (I'm assuming from the reflection from my headlights) eyes, and dangling/fleshy loose skin from the neck up.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good look at its face either as I was driving by so I can't give a better description, but its head was pretty sizeable for a bird (I'd say around the size of a football).  I asked around on local Burlington forums and Craigslist and got some interesting feedback - most of which thought it was either a turkey or turkey vulture - but judging by the pictures I've looked up, I'm 90% sure that this isn't what I saw.  I did receive one voicemail from Craigslist that really caught my interest with a sighting quite similar to mine, but the lady won't answer my calls when I call the number.  Other than that, I haven't really had anything else that was helpful so I decided to come here.

Does this sound like anything you have ever seen or heard of?  I'm wondering if it may have been some sort of mutated bird?  Or maybe it wasn't even a normal "bird" as the girl described her sighting as not having a beak.  Any thoughts?  I started a blog about it if you are interested in seeing all the feedback I have collected as I am still trying to piece everything together.  www.curiositykilledthecatamount.wordpress.com

Thanks for any information!

-Christian

Sounds like a turkey vulture or a stork to me. They are huge birds ! 

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