Has anyone here ever spotted a bird that with a wingspan of

[Thtwudbeme]

over 10 feet?

[mitchtv]

1. there is only one that I know of- Calif Condor

No, I've never seen one best i can offer is a golden eagle and Andean Condors( close)

[Withywindle]

24. I thought Andeans were slightly larger...

Could be wrong about that. Did you see it in the wild?

[mitchtv]

25. vice versa, the Calif is larger(largest flyer in the world)

when I was in SA there were many in the wild, I also saw them in Captivity

[Withywindle]

28. Cool!

Thanks for the correx.


That is unbelievably cool that you got to see them in the wild. Wow. What an experience.

(I've been to SA but never the Andes, only the east coast, Brazil. Maybe one of these years.)

[amazona]

2. marabou stork

It is a common bird in its territory. Easily seen in Nairobi, Kenya. If your goal was just to see a bird with a 10 foot wingspan, you could catch a flight to NBO, take a spin around the town, and see MANY, and then turn around and go home. But there is lots else to see there also.

[Droopy]

3. A more perplexing question.

What does your screen name mean?

[Thtwudbeme]

7. That would be me

;)

[Droopy]

9. Well I really feel like a dunce now

I was thinking it was some ancient Indian name that was unpronounceable unless you were versed in native tounge.

[Thtwudbeme]

11. Wow, that would be cool!

I am not that smart!

Stephanie

[Misunderestimator]

20. Thtwudbecool

:)

[EstimatedProphet]

4. Trumpeter swan comes close

They are unbelieveably huge when you see them in the wild.

[kittykatkoffeekup]

5. Never seen one, but they're out there

http://guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=50284&Reg=1

11FT 11In

[IChing]

15. Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

And lo ! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.
And a good south wind sprung up behind ;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo !
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine ;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.
`God save thee, ancient Mariner !
From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--
Why look'st thou so ?'--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.


He did alot of poppy seed dropings

[havocmom]

6. 1972, Moorpark, CA, looking north toward the mountians... Condors

Wow, watched them whenever I could. It was not long after that they captured the wild ones for breeding and rearing to get enough to reintroduce back into the wild.

Amazing creatures to see in flight.

[salin]

8. Why do you ask... are you seeing

giant taridactyl again, hearing thundering hordes, or wondering about the pink elephant in the middle of the room?

;-)

[Thtwudbeme]

10. Heh...no.....when I was a kid I saw something unusual

My sister and grandmother were there. My grandmother mentioned it on her deathbed.

Whatever we saw (in Charlotte, NC--not the boonies) was too big to be an eagle, and large enough to frighten my grandmother who started screaming "Get in the house NOW"

I keep hearing reports of other people who spot large birds...huge birds...but there are no photographs.

Discovery Channel did a show called "Thunderbird" about this very thing-

Loudsue saw the same thing in NC in the seventies; she PM'd me a while back.

I was wondering if there were other DUers that have seen something similar.

[salin]

12. I have seen a bald eagle soar...

there a number relocated to this area about 10+ years ago. Majestic. Large span. But not that large of a span.

Sounds very curious. Have you checked any bird watchers books (esp those that list birds by general type and then by geographic locale)?

[Thtwudbeme]

14. Actually, I have been birding for almost 20 years

:) I know! What a dorky hobby!

But, seriously...nothing that matches what we (and Loudsue) saw--it was a raptor-like bird with an enormous wingspan.

[salin]

16. Sounds like quite a sight to behold

and clearly that all of you hold the memory so well... all these years later - says something about how unique the sighting was. Very cool experience for you all to have shared (even if you grandmother was sent into high protective mode at the moment.)

[TreasonousBastard]

23. Been birding for 20 years....

and still haven't found a picture or description of that critter? Was it really a raptor or heron/egret sort of thing? Great blue herons are big, but distinctive enough to recognize as not your typical flying hunter. They're common all over the East, but a lot of people still haven't seen them or recognize them when they see them flying. I've seen them feeding at the Great Swamp in New Jersey, and It's one of those things you really wanna see. The films of it on the animal shows are nothing like being there.

A female bald eagle can have a wingspan up to 8 feet, and is a spectacular sight if it's bearing down on something near you. (Even more spectacular if it's bearing down ON you)

It's the kind of thing that would get grandma to shoo the kids inside-- real fast, too. I've seen bald eagles, but not so close. I have seen the slightly smaller golden eagles, though, and they a bit of a shock when they swoop down right in front of you.

Slightly related is my doomed quest to identify a bird I ran into years ago. Jamaica Bay in New York has a wildlife refuge with many marine birds, and while driving past it on the Belt Parkway something enormous dropped a dump of almost pure white excrement that covered my entire windshield with a resounding THUMP-SPLAT. Scary, it was, and I still have idea if it was a lost albatross or something more common that could have dumped such a load. Never saw whatever it was, not in the least because I was trying to see where I was going through the mess.

[BreweryYardRat]

17. I saw part of that show...

Pretty interesting stuff. Wasn't there a theory about them living in mountain ranges, especially the Sierra Madre?

If that's correct, maybe you saw one migrating or something.

[amazona]

21. in North Carolina

My vote would be a large immature female Bald Eagle. You would know if it was an adult of course. They are not all the same size. Years ago, before they had recovered well in Louisiana, someone called the zoo with a report of an Eagle. The zoo heard the description of the size and said, "yeah, sure." But they sent a team out to rescue the bird. It was over four feet tall and was indeed an immature female Bald Eagle. I photographed the bird but don't know where my photos are or I would scan/post them. I have not knowingly seen another Eagle of that size, although size in the field can of course be very hard to judge. The injured bird was treated, recovered, and subsequently released. I do not know if it was ever seen again.

My understanding is that Thunderbird was a translation of Hopi or perhaps another southwest First Nation name for the Condor.

A final thought is if you have been birding for 20 years, you have probably experienced for yourself just how deceiving size estimates can be in the field. If there was nothing else in the sky to give a comparison, the estimate of wingspan is probably not even remotely accurate. This is why when you make your Rare Bird Reports there is little credibility put in your size estimates unless you have a known nearby bird to compare with.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[BikeWriter]

29. I've heard about the Thunderbirds. I'm not too sure what to believe.

[EC]

13. Yes, while hiking at came to a pond where

a whooping crane was nesting....it was amazing, never saw anything like that in the wild before, it just stood, spread it's wings and flew...

[TrogL]

18. I swear some Canada Geese come pretty close

especially if they're chasing you.

I laughed myself hoarse at the office when this popped up during a chat session.

>Canada, please come get your geese. They're crapping all over the parking lot.

Blue Herons get up there too.

(on edit)

Oh, yeah, forgot storks, albatrosses and swans.

[amazona]

22. tremendous variability in size of Canada Goose

The smaller ones are now Cackling Goose.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Lannes]

19. .

[Canadian Socialist]

26. Three I've seen

Andean condor (at Machu Piccu), snowy owl (in Manitoba) and a blue egret in the Okanagan valley up at a glacier lake. All three sighings left me breathless at their beauty.

[MisterP]

27. American white pelicans come pretty close usually,

and I handle some pretty big ones