I found this article, and it really makes me wonder!!! I don't think it is too far fetched to think that there could be a bird like this near areas of such vast wilderness on this part of our continent. What do you think?

Mare

"Massive Bird Spotted in Alaska"

'He's huge, he's huge, he's really, really big'

Friday, October 18, 2002 Posted: 10:26 AM EDT (1426 GMT)

Birds with large wingspans are fairly common, but only Steller's eagles come near the mystery bird's size.
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• Anchorage Daily News 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -- A bird the size of a small airplane was recently said to be seen flying over southwest Alaska, puzzling scientists, the Anchorage Daily News reported this week.

The newspaper quoted residents in the villages of Togiak and Manokotak as saying the creature, like something out of the movie "Jurassic Park," had a wingspan of 14 feet (4.6 meters) -- making it the size of a small airplane.

"At first I thought it was one of those old-time Otter planes," the paper quoted Moses Coupchiak, 43, a heavy equipment operator from Togiak, as saying. "Instead of continuing toward me, it banked to the left, and that's when I noticed it wasn't a plane."

The Daily News, the largest daily in Alaska, said scientists had no doubt that people in the region, west of Dillingham, had seen the winged creature but they were skeptical about its reported size.

"I'm certainly not aware of anything with a 14-foot wingspan that's been alive for the last 100,000 years," the paper quoted raptor specialist Phil Schemf as saying.

Coupchiak said the bird disappeared over the hill and he then radioed Togiak residents to tell them to keep their children in.

Another local resident, a pilot who had initially dismissed the reports, said he recently saw the bird from a distance of just 1,000 feet (300 meters) while flying his airplane.

"The people in the plane saw him," John Bouker was quoted as saying. "He's huge, he's huge, he's really, really big. You wouldn't want to have your children out."

Schemf and Rob Macdonald of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said there had been several sightings over the past year and a half of a Steller's eagle, a fish-eating bird that can weigh 20 pounds (10 kg) and have a wingspan of eight feet (2.60 meters), the newspaper reported.

[ October 20, 2002, 01:58 AM: Message edited by: azspirit ]

WOW!!!! That is too cool!!

I believe it!

Just cuz no one ever saw one before doesnt mean it isnt real!!

that was a jam up news report!

I was just going to post about this,I wonder sometimes if the legendary Thunderbird is really a legend.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/West/10/18/offbeat.alaska.bird.reut/index.html[/URL]

Let’s see, a bird with an 8-foot wingspan weighs 20 lbs. – that make a bird with a 14-foot wingspan weigh about 35 lbs. WOW – that’s some pituitary problem!

LOL, Connie! Wind, my first thought was of the Thunderbird, too. I have a feeling that eventually, we will find that scientists have not discovered all of the creatures we know about. I put Big Foot, Nessie, etc... in this category. There has to be something to these sightings, they've been going on for too long for them to strictly be legend, mistaken identities and so forth. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

There have been many reports going back more that a hundred years of massive size birds being spotted flying in the US Midwest. As far east as Tennessee and Ohio. They seem to be like Nessie, Sasquatch, Chukakabre,etc... . Creatures of unusual size or shape that resemble creatures from Earths past that are only seen but never found.
I wish someone would get a good picture or physical evidence (without killing) of one just so it can be proved that these kind of things can and do exist.
Why they exist? We'll have to find that out.

What is the bird with the largest wingspan living today? A type of Condor isn't it? I wonder if this is an instinct (or thought to be) example? Or even a species we have yet to identify?

Oh wow I love stuff like this! That is a great article and I absolutely believe it is possible too. How cool would it be to see a bird of that size....well unless he decided to "do his business" while flying over your head

Cindy

A bird doodoo this size could totally block your vision in your car!!!

If he hit you in the head with it, then everyone would certainly have the right to call you 'sh*thead', eh? I would probably knock you flat!!! LMAO

Can you imagine turning in a claim to the insurance company to replace your windshield because a bird on it?



[ October 24, 2002, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Connie ]