The opposite day as I savored my morning bowl of Cheerios, I caught one thing out of the nook of my eye. It was a Turkey Vulture, frequent round my home, however unusually near the home windows as a result of the home is surrounded by timber. For some motive the vulture determined to swoop all the way down to take a more in-depth look. I used to be a bit bowled over as a result of I not often see massive birds that shut, though I’ve dealt with hawks, owls, eagles, herons, and pelicans. They’re huge birds, the scale of which you don’t sometimes discover as a result of they’re hovering or sitting in a tree or on the bottom, so it’s laborious to have a body of reference. When the common particular person will get a close-up have a look at an eagle or the prehistoric trying Nice Blue Heron or Turkey Vulture, it may be a bit surprising.
Each occasionally, I get an e mail from somebody who claims to have seen some big chicken. Lately somebody from Texas wrote (“Three years in the past I seen (sic) a large owl.”) In accordance with him the owl was as huge as a person, had a 20-foot wingspan, and lived in a cave. After all, he had no proof, which was additionally not out there to assist his declare of additionally seeing an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. (I earlier wrote a weblog in regards to the man who six years in the past noticed three big birds, considered one of which he stated carried off a deer. Why do these guys wait years to inform me of their sightings?)
The opposite day, a lady who apparently noticed a Pileated Woodpecker disagreed with my identification as a result of “a zoologist instructed me it was a Large Purple-Headed Wooden Pecker”
After which there’s the Native American fable of the Thunderbird (no, not the Air Power acrobatic staff or the automobile, a large chicken). After a report of a Thunderbird attempting to hold off a 56-pound little one, some self-described “skilled photographer” filmed Thunderbirds in flight. There are many obvious sightings of those supposed creatures, however simply have a look at this video in regards to the Thunderbirds in Illinois. Turkey Vultures. However that doesn’t cease these cryptozoologists. You may learn extra tales within the Pennsylvania Rambler. Search the net and also you’ll discover even extra sightings of Thunderbirds in addition to different flying behemoths.
Years in the past, within the 60s and 70s, there have been a number of UFO sightings, the images of which frequently had been fuzzy pictures of climate balloons, clouds, or simply quirks of lighting or different camera-induced artifacts. For the previous 20 years or so nearly everybody has been carrying round a high- high quality digital camera on their cellphone, so one would guess that we might now have every kind of fine pictures of those supposed alien craft. However no. The identical with big birds or claims of Ivory-bill sightings. Why aren’t there pictures – clear, unambiguous pictures? As a result of – and I hedge my bets just a bit right here as a result of I’m a scientist- it’s very extremely unlikely that big birds, the Ivory-bill, or alien spacecraft on earth exist.
Keep in mind Carl Sagan’s phrases – “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.”