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'Live pterosaur' filmed flying over Idaho


Anomalocaris

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Guys,. it was sarkasm, but my fault if that was not stated in my post, I am sorry :innocent:

Then all is well and good. But I wasn't harshing on you actually. Just stating the facts.

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RVing across North America we just had enough time to grab binoculars. There's no way we could follow them across the land in a land vehicle, there were no roads where they flew. The OP was said to follow the bird in car, I find that more unlikely than seeing one.

I haven't seen anything like them since but then I haven't been back to the area. There were two flying like when you see bald eagle mates flying together.

I stress that I hope whatever species of bird I saw do not go extinct before they are officially recognized.

The people living in the area we talked to said they were thunder birds not ptersaur but they are huge with similar head of the extinct creature. They aren't seen often and an elder on the nearby Indian reservation said he believed that they migrate to and from Mexico. He was glad they were still alive and his grandchildren got to see them that day too. I asked when he last seen them and he said he only saw one when he was a boy and then one when he was about 30. He was in his 70s and said the his grand children didn't believe in the tribal myth and thought his stories were rantings of dementia. He was in his glory telling them, you didn't believe me and look whose demented now!

I don't know what they were but they were huge and I can see how people seeing one could think they are petserosaur. I don't understand how they would not be seen more often considering the size.

I just wanted to add to the clarification to Merc

When we saw them, we tried to go in same area by land but couldn't see them again to use camcorder. I only have testimony to the existence of a huge bird species not yet recognized. I regret I can't offer photographic evidence.

When my hunt for capturing a zoomed photo evidence began, we drove to the town we saw in relatively close distance the native Indians. Some said they took pictures on cheap camera. The Elder showed me 2 really old B&W photos of the one he saw second time. They were not good quality to see details because it was shot when bird was at higher altitude then this siting of the two. He mentioned that tribal tradition considered thunder bird having great spirit powers and once it, it was said to have connected with one member of his tribe in the past who told tribe to honor it and not exploit it to outsiders or it could bring bad things to the tribe. He mentioned what white man did to buffalos and that's one reason tribes honor the animal by not going public with photos to try to prove existence.

I found the tribal stories fascinating. I feel honored he divulged some of his tribal beliefs. He shared with me since seeing one is considered a spirit sign in itself and said he knew I would respect the greatness of the birds.

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I just wanted to add to the clarification to Merc

When we saw them, we tried to go in same area by land but couldn't see them again to use camcorder. I only have testimony to the existence of a huge bird species not yet recognized. I regret I can't offer photographic evidence.

When my hunt for capturing a zoomed photo evidence began, we drove to the town we saw in relatively close distance the native Indians. Some said they took pictures on cheap camera. The Elder showed me 2 really old B&W photos of the one he saw second time. They were not good quality to see details because it was shot when bird was at higher altitude then this siting of the two. He mentioned that tribal tradition considered thunder bird having great spirit powers and once it, it was said to have connected with one member of his tribe in the past who told tribe to honor it and not exploit it to outsiders or it could bring bad things to the tribe. He mentioned what white man did to buffalos and that's one reason tribes honor the animal by not going public with photos to try to prove existence.

I found the tribal stories fascinating. I feel honored he divulged some of his tribal beliefs. He shared with me since seeing one is considered a spirit sign in itself and said he knew I would respect the greatness of the birds.

White Unicorn:

Having the opportunity to speak with a tribal elder and hearing the old stories must have been an amazing experience! We're becoming so far removed from our past.

I have a cousin who works in the farm fields in an isolated area of Iowa. He told me about seeing a huge bird, and his description matched what I've read on UM. He'd never before heard of thunderbirds, and as he was describing it he had that apprehensive look of, "Is he going to laugh at me?"

I don't know what to think. It's difficult to believe that something as big as a thunderbird could exist without it being a well-known species, yet true believers are adamant about the experience of having seen one.

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I've always found this photo intriguing:

post-125363-0-60610300-1442720450_thumb.

It's the photo that was in a 1950's mystery magazine.

A similar photo came out a few years ago, and it went viral on the internet before it was proven to be Photoshopped.

When I saw that one, I thought exaggerated fake. Too large and too reptilian dipition done by attention seekers.

Photoshop is so accessible now it's abused all the time for everything now.

I wonder if there are any genuine images that still exist but were seen as enhanced and just dismissed.

You mentioning that made me think of old photos from 1880s and early 1900s. They deteriorate. I had photos of grandparents enhanced and restored. Maybe there's something just as genuine in subject matter but dismissed as fake because it was enhanced? It seems to to me that would make getting quality historical imagining as proof impossible even if a real photo exists. In the old days they couldn't capture moving subjects without being bleary so I doubt there would be a good picture unless animal was on ground or dead.

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White Unicorn:

Having the opportunity to speak with a tribal elder and hearing the old stories must have been an amazing experience! We're becoming so far removed from our past.

I have a cousin who works in the farm fields in an isolated area of Iowa. He told me about seeing a huge bird, and his description matched what I've read on UM. He'd never before heard of thunderbirds, and as he was describing it he had that apprehensive look of, "Is he going to laugh at me?"

I don't know what to think. It's difficult to believe that something as big as a thunderbird could exist without it being a well-known species, yet true believers are adamant about the experience of having seen one.

That it is so big not to be officially discovered was a question I asked the elder. Some of the tradition portrays it more as a spirit bird that can communicate with some people and only be seen when it wants to be seen. It comes with thunder, and times when valleys flood fast. Clues to the existence of an animal is all that we can take the tribal stories for not fact.

I think it's a clue, maybe they actually live in a cave in a valley and only appear after a storm floods where they live. There's a lot of small holes in earth that lead into giant caves and I bet there are still many caves not discovered in remote areas. Thàts my guess. It would explain the boney bat and bird like wings, if they live in cave like a bat, who knows?

It is important we take into account the legends for clues if we want to find them.

I feel for your cousin! Once you see one you can't just forget it. If I was in a field and seen one close unprotected by vehicle, I would have probably had a heart attack. I almost said LOL but it is not funny at all! It was only after I talked to elder I was curious about the other tribal legends. There's not much published about Thunderbird but you will still see it depicted in tribal artwork to this day. Because of the chance sighting of this amazing whatever it is, we visited many other reservations to fish around for their stories of thunderbird. It is embarrassing to say I saw on, so you just try to lead a conversation about pottery artwork or something.

It was amazing to hear the stories. I am afraid that the oral tradition will die out. Seemed that there was only a handful of shaman or elders who were left that could or would talk about them at all. But then, I was an outsider so maybe it's just a taboo to discuss.

The most I learned was from the elder with his grandchildren that also saw them that day. I must say my unplanned adventure to find more information on a bird species was one of the highlights of my life. The native culture and traditions are fascinating. I still have a dreamcatcher that the shaman gave me. He didn't talk as much as the elder but he told me of spiritual aspects of thunderbird and a girl who became a princess of tribe because she became friends with the bird. She left to marry a man from other tribe who also was guided by thunderbird who became a chief. Other shaman I sought out told stories of a great white buffalo spirit etc with the same type of honor and respect as the this tribe did their holy bird of thunder.

There's so much oral tradition that should be written before it dies out with the elders and shaman. I had no clue until seeing the weird birds inspired me to reach out to local people for more information on what we saw.

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I want to point out that large birds seem, well, large. At a distance, or even close up. Like owls flying in front of moving cars at night. They're damn scary at times. The herons look enormous around here when the are fly, so do the buzzards. But when you see them on the ground, they're not so imposing at all. There's nothing supernatural or paranormal or weird about it at all.

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Its about time a Thunderbird was filmed.

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Its about time a Thunderbird was filmed.

:)

About time for a lot of things to be filmed...like a ghost, Bigfoot, a real alien UFO, an honest politician, actual magic being performed....

But if that happened, we would start running out of Unexplained Mysteries.

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White Unicorn, thanks for your posts, you have me thinking...

Hopefully this isnt going too far off the beaten track but I would like to mention that in NZ sometime in the early 1990s a very small and ugly bat species was 'discovered' living in Te Urewera, a very remote and dense rain forest in the central North Island.

However, the bat was already known to exist by a few native people who inhabited the area. I personally was told about their existence by an elder, coincidentally only weeks prior to them being officially discovered.

So not long after hearing the story of the bat population, i 'saw' the bat in a pre-waking vision, its unsightly face and gnarly teeth really made an impression on my psyche. When i opened the newspaper later that same morning, there was the article of the bats discovery and for sure, the very same bat i saw was in the photo.

NZ was a country for thousands of years prior to the arrival of humans which was dominated by all sorts of very intelligent bird species.

The Maori people have many living connections with these birds, even with those ones that are 'extinct', through their mythologies, names, artworks etc.

Legend has it that the ancestors trained the owls in Te Urewera to talk directly with them so they could bring back messages of war-parties or other happenings within their territories. It is true that they do stand like sentinels...ever watching...

There is also a bird so rare that if you did know of it you might live your whole life thinking it existed only in myth, not many people will ever see it and even fewer people even know its name, but if you happen across this small solitary bird it will surely bring you good luck...

As vibrant as the bird is, when it calls you it expresses such a sorrowful and lonely tone...

I assume such 'myths' will be commonplace the world over. So what of the ptereosaur?

Some things are stranger than fiction and i think the oral legends are more significant than whether or not the creature filmed is real or fake.

Just perhaps the Thunderbird is alive and well. I for one am not suprised of White Unicorns sighting.

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I want to point out that large birds seem, well, large. At a distance, or even close up. Like owls flying in front of moving cars at night. They're damn scary at times. The herons look enormous around here when the are fly, so do the buzzards. But when you see them on the ground, they're not so imposing at all. There's nothing supernatural or paranormal or weird about it at all.

This is true. When we saw the birds it was about 10 am. One swooped down on right near RV circled from behind then flew up that's when I saw it with another one after I got binoculars and it was at a higher altitude. It was size of small crop plane with the wing span. It seemed to be observing us before it joined other one and circled over the town we saw and then they split up and flew out of site over the hills. Ive seen large cranes etc but nothing like their size and odd shape.

Reminds of the time I saw an emu run in front of my car after work. I thought I was seeing things. Next month I discovered a farmer lost one when it came in my yard and he had to lasso it.

Nothing paranormal just out of the ordinary. I'm sure someday I will know explanation of these birds as well.

Just like the climate and ocean changes brought us new sea life species recently discovered, I imagine we will find new land animals as well.

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RVing across North America we just had enough time to grab binoculars. There's no way we could follow them across the land in a land vehicle, there were no roads where they flew. The OP was said to follow the bird in car, I find that more unlikely than seeing one.

I haven't seen anything like them since but then I haven't been back to the area. There were two flying like when you see bald eagle mates flying together.

I stress that I hope whatever species of bird I saw do not go extinct before they are officially recognized.

The people living in the area we talked to said they were thunder birds not ptersaur but they are huge with similar head of the extinct creature. They aren't seen often and an elder on the nearby Indian reservation said he believed that they migrate to and from Mexico. He was glad they were still alive and his grandchildren got to see them that day too. I asked when he last seen them and he said he only saw one when he was a boy and then one when he was about 30. He was in his 70s and said the his grand children didn't believe in the tribal myth and thought his stories were rantings of dementia. He was in his glory telling them, you didn't believe me and look whose demented now!

I don't know what they were but they were huge and I can see how people seeing one could think they are petserosaur. I don't understand how they would not be seen more often considering the size.

Thanks for your reply and sorry I didn't res[pond, I was watching the Bills get beat by the Patriots. Culs the bird you saw resemble these:

condor79_10x5_300dpi.jpg

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That's a really big scavenger but not what we saw. Head had top crest like in video bat like wings leathery but it appeared to have sparce feathers on the edges, eyes were like an eagle, beak looked like a prehistoric bird but face had fine feathers not like a bald reptile or a bat's hair, same for the crest. Tail end looked like a herron or crane because its legs could appear as a long tail from a distance when in flight since it had feathers on its lower legs like a silky rooster does. I couldn't make out the feet since they were clenched in flight. Color was browns but face had some white streaked fine feathers.

I didn't see any bat hands like prehistoric birds. I believe in thunderbirds now.

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That's a really big scavenger but not what we saw. Head had top crest like in video bat like wings leathery but it appeared to have sparce feathers on the edges, eyes were like an eagle, beak looked like a prehistoric bird but face had fine feathers not like a bald reptile or a bat's hair, same for the crest. Tail end looked like a herron or crane because its legs could appear as a long tail from a distance when in flight since it had feathers on its lower legs like a silky rooster does. I couldn't make out the feet since they were clenched in flight. Color was browns but face had some white streaked fine feathers.

I didn't see any bat hands like prehistoric birds. I believe in thunderbirds now.

Since you don't have pics or a video, is there a way you could possibly have a picture drawn to show what you're talking about? Because what you're describing doesn't exist and never has existed and I'm having a hard time grasping just what the heck you thought you saw. And you're claiming some incredibly fine details on something you just got a glimpse of. So, if possibly, a drawing would be nice.

But, I'm still going with just a large bird, herron or vulture or hawk or something similar. The size and odd features are just a perception error. I believe you saw something, just not a "thunderbird" or any other type of non-existent monstrous bird.

Edited by Thorvir Hrothgaard
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That's a really big scavenger but not what we saw. Head had top crest like in video bat like wings leathery but it appeared to have sparce feathers on the edges, eyes were like an eagle, beak looked like a prehistoric bird but face had fine feathers not like a bald reptile or a bat's hair, same for the crest. Tail end looked like a herron or crane because its legs could appear as a long tail from a distance when in flight since it had feathers on its lower legs like a silky rooster does. I couldn't make out the feet since they were clenched in flight. Color was browns but face had some white streaked fine feathers.

I didn't see any bat hands like prehistoric birds. I believe in thunderbirds now.

You said you saw it through binoculars so I'll take you at your word that you saw something you perceived as extraordinary and are most definitely not making anything up. I have no explanation but, like Thorvir, always lean towards the error in perception aspect, FWIW. We, as humans, are terrible at describing and understanding things we see in the air because it wasn't necessary for us to deal with things in the air throughout our evolution. We are also terrible eyewitnesses, prone to filling in the blanks and exaggerating things subconsciously. We all do it, even the best trained observers but the binocs do add a level of detail that is intriguing.

As far as believing native American myths I have to ask where do you stop? They had a lot of myths and stories to describe a world around them that was beyond their stone-age culture's knowledge. I find it far to easy for people to pick and choose their aboriginal myths to fit their current crypto-creature beliefs while concurrently disregarding the talking beavers and elks.

Could there be a Thunderbird? Obviously yes, there could be a giant bird in the NA skies but how likely is it that it is still unknown to science or not part of the fossil record? Your seeing it through binoculars certainly lends credibility to the story, however and I only wish you had a photo. Thanks for sharing and an interesting encounter to say the least.

Edited by Merc14
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Since you don't have pics or a video, is there a way you could possibly have a picture drawn to show what you're talking about? Because what you're describing doesn't exist and never has existed and I'm having a hard time grasping just what the heck you thought you saw. And you're claiming some incredibly fine details on something you just got a glimpse of. So, if possibly, a drawing would be nice.

But, I'm still going with just a large bird, herron or vulture or hawk or something similar. The size and odd features are just a perception error. I believe you saw something, just not a "thunderbird" or any other type of non-existent monstrous bird.

Definitely a bird it had feathers on feet, beak was very large in proportion to face compared to that of eagles or condors. I saw details of only some features through binoculars bouncing around catching head legs etc separately when it was flying away upwards. I was shaky. The wings were so weird . The feet and part of wings were what I first saw out of passenger window level, didn't see face until it was on driverside further away still looking at us. I noticed in binoculars the other one didn't seem to have a crest, I assume it was like rooster to a hen.

First reaction was a plane is crashing into us, then WTF is that it has feet and wings, then the face was seen and first thought is ptersaur, I don't believe it..grab binoculars to get better look from distance of proportions. Sxxt zoom camcorder is in closet so I used binoculars on dash. Perception is bad when you're so surprised. I thought it was a plane with side vision until I looked toward it and saw clenched feet and feathers.

I saw enough details that I knew they were different then any species I ever imagined to exist. I call them thunderbirds since im sure it is the bird that inspired all the legends and sits at the top of many totem poles, just like eagles or bears. When you think about it, weird features are not uncommon in birds large or small. Ostrich, toucan, ducks, hummingbirds, owls,etc, but they are all birds. Different type of wing and beak appearance might seem impossible but its just because we hardly see their kind that much.

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You said you saw it through binoculars so I'll take you at your word that you saw something you perceived as extraordinary and are most definitely not making anything up. I have no explanation but, like Thorvir, always lean towards the error in perception aspect, FWIW. We, as humans, are terrible at describing and understanding things we see in the air because it wasn't necessary for us to deal with things in the air throughout our evolution. We are also terrible eyewitnesses, prone to filling in the blanks and exaggerating things subconsciously. We all do it, even the best trained observers but the binocs do add a level of detail that is intriguing.

As far as believing native American myths I have to ask where do you stop? They had a lot of myths and stories to describe a world around them that was beyond their stone-age culture's knowledge. I find it far to easy for people to pick and choose their aboriginal myths to fit their current crypto-creature beliefs while concurrently disregarding the talking beavers and elks.

Could there be a Thunderbird? Obviously yes, there could be a giant bird in the NA skies but how likely is it that it is still unknown to science or not part of the fossil record? Your seeing it through binoculars certainly lends credibility to the story, however and I only wish you had a photo. Thanks for sharing and an interesting encounter to say the least.

I don't know what type of bird that I saw but it was a huge unusual and very intimidating. Something is out there that is still being seen.

I don't buy into the legend of the bird in all the stories for reasons you mentioned. Tall tales and mushroom sometimes!

I'm thankful I saw them but no one feels worse than me not having the camcorder in hand. We have iPhone now so there's much better odds to catching them on film when they come unexpectedly.

Legend of it living in cave rang bells as a clue to classifying a new bird if it only comes out during storms? There was an earthquake in San Jose and thunderstorms and flooding in the western areas when they were seen. Clues to link real animals nature to the myths. It eats large fish in other tribes..that could mean its like a large type of herron in that culture.

As big and as fast they flew they could have really lived thousands of miles away. Just like Elder told me it was said they fly from Mexico.

Lots of area to cover to discover even where to look for fossil records of its evolution.

I'm getting older now and I really would of thought they would be officially known by now. I just want people to know there really are big birds making appearances and want them to gather the clues to track them down so we can learn more about them.

Seeing things like this makes you want to shout from the rooftop. A giant bird lives. But you are too embarrassed since it's viewed as a cryptid. We'll find its bones even if it dies out someday and the age will be the same time period as us, I guess. I hoped to be the one to officially discover and name it but it won't happen unless one comes to my state. My cross country traveling days are over for now.

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I wonder if there is a purpose from somewhere or somebody in the sudden influx of cryptid sightings

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Pigeon poo makes your car dirty.

Pterosaur poo would demolish your car.

So, kill all Pterosaurs.

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I wonder if there is a purpose from somewhere or somebody in the sudden influx of cryptid sightings

It's almost Halloween season.

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Sighh it keeps on amazing m howe.people take all kinds of mumbo jumbo serious because they saw or read it on the internet, so therefore that acts as their evidence for whatever theory that fits them! There is a special site for those people "www.beforeitsnews.com".

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Interestingly, there is no dialogue nor expression of surprise nor expected jittery "adrenaline rush." Rather, we see a steady hand with large scene for scale and a smooth zoom. So, do we have a scientist at work? And, therein lies the issue of credibility that erodes so many of these sightings. We know little or nothing about the source of information.

Edited by highdesert50
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