Thunderbird (cryptozoology)
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Thunderbird is a term used in cryptozoology to describe large, bird-like creatures, generally identified with the Thunderbird of Native American myth and folklore. Similar cryptids reported in the Old World are often called rocs. Although Rocs are generally regarded as being eagles like the gigantic Haast eagle of New Zealand, that if no direct fossil evidence had been discovered would surely have been relegated to the world of mythology, thunderbirds on the otherhand are regarded by a small number of researchers as having lizard features like the pterosaurs and pteranodon and hence not mythological. As most people assume these creatures did not survive from the time of dinosaurs, they are generally regarded by most people as mythological.
This article deals with modern sightings (the last 200 years) of such a creature, reported as real, as opposed to clearly mythological accounts, though believers in the phenomenon often use the Indian legends as further evidence for their claims.
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[edit] Early reports
There is a story that in April 1890, two cowboys in Arizona killed a giant birdlike creature with an enormous wingspan. It was said to have had smooth skin, featherless wings like a bat and a face that resembled an alligator. This description has obvious similarity to that of a prehistoric pterodactyl, a creature which was known at the time. They dragged the carcass back to town, and it was pinned, wings outstretched across the entire length of a barn. A picture of this event may have been published in the local newspaper, the Tombstone Epitaph. It should be noted that Cryptozoology.com[1] has an account of this story with the events taking place in the state of Texas.
According to Mark Hall, the Epitaph did indeed print a story about the capture of a large, unusual winged creature, on April 26, 1890.[2] Beyond this single story, however, no one has made historic corroboration that this event ever occurred; it is usually considered an urban legend. Utterly fictional tall tales were not an uncommon feature in newspapers during this era[citation needed].
No one has ever produced a copy of the "thunderbird" photograph, though numerous people, Ivan T. Sanderson being one of the better known, have made claims to its existence. Sanderson claimed to have once owned a copy of the photo, which vanished after he loaned it to an acquaintance in the 1960s. The television program Freaky Links staged a similar photo, giving new life to the "Thunderbird Photograph" legend.[3]
Jerome Clark speculates that the description of the basic image in question (men standing alongside a winged creature nailed to a barn), is evocative enough to implant a sort of false memory, leading some people to vaguely "remember" seeing the photo at some distant, imprecise time.[1]
[edit] 20th century
There have also been Thunderbird sightings more recently. In the 1960s and 1970s, sightings of a large bird the size of a Piper Cub airplane were made in Washington, Utah, and Idaho.[citation needed] On occasion, such reports were accompanied by large footprints or other purported evidence.
Among the most controversial reports is a July 25, 1977 account from Lawndale, Illinois. About 9 p.m. a group of three boys were at play in a residential back yard. Two large birds approached, and chased the boys. Two escaped unharmed, but the third boy, ten-year-old Marlon Lowe, did not. One of the birds reportedly clamped his shoulder with its claws, then lifted Lowe about two feet off the ground, carrying him some distance. Lowe fought against the bird, which released him.
Viewed by some as a tall tale, the descriptions given by the witnesses of these birds match that of an Andean condor: a large black bird, with a white ringed neck and a wingspan up to 10 feet.[4] Loren Coleman and his brother, Jerry, interviewed several witnesses after the reported event.
[edit] 21st century
In 2002, a sighting of a large birdlike creature, roughly as big as a Cessna aircraft, was reported in Alaska.[2] Scientists suggested the giant bird may have simply been a Steller's Sea-Eagle.
In 2004, a high-school student claimed to have been walking into his classroom from a soccer field in Southern California when a large bird-like creature, silhouetted against the sky, was sighted flying over suburban residences. According to him, it first appeared to be a small bird located by the field below. He claimed to have seen it fly over a thunderhead cloud that was over a group of hills to the south that was approximately one and a half miles from where he was standing. The boy claimed that from his point of view it looked the size that a crow-sized bird would at twenty feet away. From this it could be concluded that the flying creature reported had a wingspan of hundreds of feet.
Another Thunderbird sighting was made in Harrow, Ontario in the summer of 2003. Ohio is a prime area for Thunderbird sightings; one was documented in the fall of 2004. Ohio Valley thunderbirds are said to be similar to the California Condor.[citation needed]
[edit] Analyses
As mentioned above, some cryptozoologists have theorized the ancient Thunderbird myth to be based on sightings of a real animal that has of late dwindled in population. Some skeptics have claimed such a large bird could never have flown, but several flying creatures with huge wingspans are indeed known. The prehistoric vulture-like Argentavis magnificens had a wingspan of around 7 m (21 feet) and was capable of flight. The massive Cretaceous-era pterosaur Quetzalcoatlus northropi was the largest known flying creature in history, with a wingspan of at least 25 but perhaps as much as 60 feet.
Cryptozoologists also posit that the Thunderbird was associated with storms because they followed the draughts to stay in flight, not unlike the way a modern eagle rides mountain upcurrents. Noted cryptozoologist John Keel claims to have mapped several Thunderbird sightings and found that they corresponded chronologically and geographically with storms moving across the United States.
Angelo P. Capparella, an ornithologist at Illinois State University, argues that the existence of such undiscovered large birds is highly unlikely, at least in North America. There is not enough food, Capparella says, in many areas where abnormally large birds are reported. Perhaps more important, according to Capparella, is the lack of sightings by "the legions of competent birdwatchers ... scanning the skies of the U.S. and Canada" who sometimes make "surprising observations" with cameras at the ready. Were there breeding populations of large, unknown birds, Capparella contends they could not remain unknown very long.
