"Lock Ness Monster" or "Giant Squid"?

[nebularain]

What I mean is: Is this something like Nessie, which many eye witnesses say exist but which investigations indicate is a hoax, or is this like the giant squid, which no one has seen alive and would be considered a myth if not for the fact that we have the carcasses.

Anyway, the news reports mention sightings of a giant bird in Alaska.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/West/10/18/offbeat.alaska.bird.reut/index.html

http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/1979660p-2081808c.html

(I know this isn't necessarily "astronomy" but anything science-oriented tends to be up for grabs on this board, and it could in a round-about-way relate to the "evolution" discussions.)

[Laser Jock]

I thought that story was real interesting. It reminds me of a large flying creature that my whole family saw in northern MN once on vacation. It was unlike any bird we had ever seen and is had no trouble keeping up with the car going 55 mph. It flew along side us (about 50 yards away) for a few moments then disappeared. I think this Alaska story may be even more credible than others (even mine /phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif ) simply because Alaskans are used to oversized wildlife wandering around. If this bird is as big as they claim, I tend to believe them.

[ToSeek]

My concern would be that it's notoriously hard to estimate the size of something that's above you in the sky because there's nothing to compare it with. It could be a big bird but not as big as people are saying.

[David Hall]

On 2002-10-18 13:40, ToSeek wrote:
My concern would be that it's notoriously hard to estimate the size of something that's above you in the sky because there's nothing to compare it with. It could be a big bird but not as big as people are saying.


Just what I was thinking. Consider also that most people would have no idea of how to estimate a bird's actual wingspan anyway and you have a quite a margin for error. The only reports I'd give any trust to would be from people who show some degree of familiarity with the subject; park rangers or the like.

I sure doubt I'd be able to get it right.

[Laser Jock]

On 2002-10-18 13:52, David Hall wrote:

On 2002-10-18 13:40, ToSeek wrote:
My concern would be that it's notoriously hard to estimate the size of something that's above you in the sky because there's nothing to compare it with. It could be a big bird but not as big as people are saying.


Just what I was thinking. Consider also that most people would have no idea of how to estimate a bird's actual wingspan anyway and you have a quite a margin for error. The only reports I'd give any trust to would be from people who show some degree of familiarity with the subject; park rangers or the like.

I sure doubt I'd be able to get it right.



You are both, of course, quite right. There is nothing wrong with being skeptical about something like this. I'd be interested though to find out if it is indeed a Steller's eagle or a previously unknown species.

[Bozola]

"Mysterious bird" sighting. Hrrrump.

I've been a fanatic bird watcher for about 30 years, and in this time I've dealt with a LOT of investigations of errant sightings.

Well, no suprise, guess what; casual observations of untrained, and a number of supposedly trained ones, too, are usually WAY wrong.

I've stood next to a group of "Audubon Master Class (there's course)" birders in the swamps of eastern Oregon pointing to a pair of flying American Pelican and call them Whooping Cranes. No amount of arguement on my part could convince them otherwise. For the record, there are no Whooping Cranes in Oregon, and every last single Whooping Crane is followed around by a horde of researchers and conservationists.

I've seen experienced people call Northern Roughlegged Hawks Eagles, call Flickers Peregrine Falcons, and sticks as Cormorants.

One of the absolute HARDEST thing to determine of ANY bird is it's size, especially in flight!!!!

Birds are always MUCH smaller than they appear. I always knock a third of any visual estimate on the wingsize of a hawk I'm watching, but I NEVER use apparant size as a guide. With falconiformes I always go by head size to wing size to tail size ratios.

Ignorant goifs. Toss this one in the circular file.