"My husband was in the garage when he saw it zip by. Thunderbirds exist in many cultures and myths, and sometimes, New Mexico natives swear they still see this supposedly extinct creature from time to time in the Doa Ana Mountains near Las Cruces. If there is a major disaster around the area where it was seen, that would confirm it. The most obvious feature was the diamond or spade tipped tail, I have not found any creature that compares. Small rain chances followed by elevated fire danger. The ability to fly is not a simple question of weight, except in extreme cases. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Are there any mythical creatures in New Mexico? [11] Meanwhile, the sarus crane is the tallest flying bird alive, at up to 1.8m (5ft 11in) tall, standing about as high as Argentavis due to its long legs and neck. Sure, you wont find any unicorns here (bummer), but you will find some other creepy critters that might as well be mythical or ones that are currently mythical but thought to exist anyway by many people and cultures, like Bigfoot or the Chupacabra. The image that the teacher found depicted a pterosaur. With luck, we may get some photos soon. The most obvious feature was the diamond or spade tipped tail, I have not found any creature that compares. a large animal took off into the air. Anyway, we saw it several times. Some have even seen her! It allows a fairly accurate estimate of its length in life, which was a bit shorter than an entire human arm. January 1: Tracey Lawson and Cousin Jackie Davies were playing outside when they saw the creature. I looked through my binoculars and, after a few moments, nearly dropped them at what I saw. Look at its probable descendent--the California Condor. Teratorns are members of Teratornithidae, a highly diversified guild of large carnivorous flying birds that lived between 25 million and 12,000 years ago. Initially, Big Bird was the target of jokes, including those said by Johnny Carson on his national television show. Sometimes there seems to be so much talk, that at least. The condor is nearly extinct. He says he's seen what most have not an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him. My father didnt go that time, because he was sick with the flu. [7] A 1983 study gives a range of wingspan of 2.9383.379m (9.6411.09ft) and a weight of 13.7kg (30lb). Well, theyre mythical for a reason, right? It was among the largest flying birds ever to exist. Skull structure suggests that it ate most of its prey whole rather than tearing off pieces of flesh. As the sightings continued, a radio station offered a reward for the creatures capture. Canceled | Southwest apologized for ruining Christmas. The gator was found near Buffalo Bayou, which is why one Fort Bend County resident told ABC13 he wasn't surprised to see a video of this alligator. It left no evidence of its existence and there have been no new sightings since the 1970s. October 4, 2014-New Florence, PA-Unknown Giant Bird 15 Feet Over Car It was during the late afternoon when the witness traveling on a rural road about 2 miles from the New Florence power generating station was startled when a huge bird passed about 15 feet over the top of his vehicle. The American Meteor Society (AMS) said it received 146 reports about a fireball seen over Texas and Oklahoma around 6:45 p.m. CT Tuesday. This ape-like monster, frequently sighted in the Pacific Northwest, and elsewhere across the U.S., is rumored to be hanging out in the Valles Caldera. Its status was recently reinforced when it was highlighted on the 1998 Yorkshire Television/Discovery Channel series on cryptids, Into the Unknown. SEE ALSO: Impressively-sized gator spotted in Missouri City by man attempting to install windows. Giant Bird Sightings All reports of Giant Bird sightings came from the Rio Grande Valley in 1976. Only the last species lives in the United States; other large U.S. birds include bald eagles and golden eagles. For news updates, follow Chaz Miller on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The first teratorn fossils were discovered in 1909 in famous La Brea Tar Pits in California, the United States. On 22 November 2002 at approximately 3:45 CST over Arlington, Texas (between Dallas & Ft. Worth) while watching large jets spraying wide trails of something in crisscross patterns over the DFW area using 20 power binoculars, I happened to notice a flock of HUGE birds of prey. [9] Thus, Teratornis may have primarily inhabited cliff terrain, where it could take off and soar through the air easily. I knew how to estimate distance and very good with the rifle. It happened so fast that others questioned if they actually saw anything at all. It looked like an oversize buzzard. Skeletal remains show that this relative of the vulture had a wingspan of more than 20 feet and weighed over 120 pounds - large enough to snatch a small child. It wasnt a heron; it wasnt a vulture; it wasnt an albatross. It is theorized that the Teratornis primarily inhabited cliff terrain, where it could take off and soar through the air easily.[7]. Scientific Name Teratornis merriami Description A large, extinct bird of prey with a wingspan between 11-12 feet. Dash cam footage captured the moment a fireball could be seen flying across the night sky in front of Lake Belton High School. Many of the sightings take place in Texas, but these gigantic animals have also been spotted in Australia, Alaska, Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Florida, and other places. .. If the thunderbird were the giant extinct teratorn Argentavis, this is how it would compare in size with a human [with illustration], Legal terms and conditions for using this site, Why a pterodactyl sighting should be reported. Descriptions of the monster vary and range from some sort of wild dog-like animal to a hunched, walking reptile. You can Upload articles and images here. The AMS received video footage from Ring doorbells and dash cameras that show the extremely bright fireball traveling rapidly toward earth. Phorusrhacids were probably the most formidable rivals that Argentavis faced, with the largest species weighing about three times as much as the teratorn. I've made several posts about Thunderbirds on this forum and live in San Antonio and have never heard of any recent sightings. Weekly free ghost stories delivered to your inbox. Argentavis magnificens (literally magnificent Argentine bird) is the largest flying bird ever discovered. Im sure its bones are still somewhere on the lake after all these years, if it died there. The video showed the gator walking slowly along a fence in the neighborhood. This bird, sometimes called the Giant Teratorn, is an extinct species known (as of 2006) from three sites from the late Miocene (6 million years before present) of central and northwestern Argentina, where a good sample of fossils has been obtained. We are talking twenty-five foot wingspan Teratorn type birds, animals so huge they couldn't hunt in woodlands or heavy foilage. [3], Teratornis had legs that were too short for it to take flight by running on flat ground. I saw this damn thing July 27th, 2007 @ night in York, PA while on the phone with a friend! See the Site Index for a complete list of articles available on this website. he came in shook up. It look like it slowed down and dove in the front yard. Which of them scares you the most? Both the Spotted Owl and Spix's macaw are nearly extinct because of rapid deforrestation and in the case of hte spotted owl, because there isn't expansive territory to sustain thier numbers. Pterosaur: This is the primary theory. It has been suggested that the California and the Andean condor are dying off due to the fact that their speices evolved in a world with much larger, prey (ie. Nevertheless, people in modern times have reported sightings of huge birds whose wingspans easily surpass any known living species. When will we see a cool down? Which looked like a teradactal, was flying over us above our boat at about 2000 feet. Some of the more infamously weird New Mexico animals (and insects) include ones we can hardly see unless were looking for them, like the tiny-but-weird Socorro isopod. Ah, the goat sucker. The majority of reported sightings came from the Central Texas area. It is said that these great creatures once ruled the skies. Have you heard of any of the cattle and goat ranchers losing any calfs or kids? Just like the Coelecanth, this animal may be a still existing creature. Now you have! New Mexico is a beautiful state with lots to do and see, but a lot of it is wilderness and with wilderness typically comes some creepy crawlies. By 1 . I just received another email regarding a pterosaur sighting in Virginia. Argentavis is an Avian from Late Miocene Argentina and the biggest flying bird ever. In the early 1940s, writer Robert R. Lyman spotted a Thunderbird sitting on a road near Coudersport, Pennsylvania. it was a dinosaur. We were never able to see where they went when they dispersed. They just seemed to disappear, then return. It is not a branch of biology but an active approach to investigating eyewitness accounts of cryptids, and an active encouraging of zoologists to investigate the possibilities, Book: "Live Pterosaurs in America" exciting nonfiction, Modern Pterosaurs and Remote Control Pterodactyls | Live Pterosaur, Comparing Worldwide Sightings of Living Pterosaurs: Long Tails, Videos on Living Pterosaurs Pterosaur Eyewitness Group Support PEGS, Freakylinks Civil War Pterodactyl Photo and Ptp, Dinosaur Book for Young Readers Pterosaur Eyewitness Group Support PEGS. They need huge hunting grounds and are extremely territorial. This thing was huge, Im talking about 6 ft. tall. He's huge! Their fossil record is limited exclusively to North and South America. It had no feathers . Till this day I still dont know what it was but I sure would like to find out! I think 20' wingspan is a gross exaggeration. Hundreds reported spotting a giant fireball flying over Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday night, according to the American Meteor Society. Its wing span was huge and it stood about four feet tall. It was cloudy and the sky was all orange so all I saw was the shape, but it was the same size because the wing span was about my height. It appears likely, therefore, that the average and maximum age reached by these creatures was fairly large possibly some 50-100 years; compare with ostrich at perhaps 60-70, and parrots at perhaps 80-120 at most if they were to mature and reproduce and replace members that had died young for whatever reason. Do you hear that? I asked her. BELTON, Texas The American Meteor Society (AMS) says it began receiving reports of fireball sightings across Texas and Oklahoma on Tuesday, Jan. 10 around 6:45 p.m. Tipped tail, i have not found any creature that compares january:... 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