Big Bird in Texas
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on May 9th, 2006
Houston, TX based cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard is giving a talk tonight in Brownsville, TX regarding the Big Bird of Texas. Information regarding the talk is available here.
Gerhard has heard theories ranging from a giant owl to a giant bat, but he has his own ideas.
“The other theory that I’m pursuing with my book is probably a little more out there,” the cryptozoologist said. “That’s the possibility of living pterosaurs.”
Winged reptiles and contemporaries of the dinosaurs, pterosaurs are believed to have met extinction more than 64 million years ago, but some cryptozoologists see the creatures as possible Big Bird explanations.
“It seems to jibe with most of the reports I’ve collected,” Gerhard said, adding that the Kongamato of Africa and Ropen of Papua, New Guinea, both supposedly mythical creatures, are said to have reptile-like features.
More information regarding living pterosaurs in Texas.
More information regarding the Big Bird sightings in McAllen, TX in 1976.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
It is a giant leap from a 4 foot tall bird to a pterosaur. In 1976 around 50 people in Texas gathered around a ”big bird” in an orchard. A reporter even filmed it. It turned out to be a great blue heron.
Why a pterosaur theory? If someone wants to go that route why not something more recent like a teratorn?
Saying it could be a pterosaur is like spotting a smaller bird you haven’t seen before and saying it could be an archaeoteryx.
Pretty cool! There have been reports of surviving pterosaurs from the east coast too.
Birds basically took the place of top predators when dinosaurs disappeared. These birds were up to ten feet tall and had skulls specialized not for crushing seeds, but skulls.
Cool, this may be kind of off topic, but I live in Houston, and i have been to Mcallen numerous times. I’ll keep an eye out (although i doubt pterosaurs still exist).
I think larzker said it well. If you have to go out on a limb (perhaps literally, in this case) and postulate an unknown species, then surely “known Pleistocene resident of the area + some witness error” is more likely than “possible Mesozoic resident not known to have survived anywhere for 60M years.”
I’m inherently skeptical of big bird claims, as I’ve debated with Loren and others, because a) it’s easy to overestimate the size of anything in flight and b) giant birds would have giant nests and giant eggs, and no one’s ever stumbled across such things.
Regards,
Matt Bille
Nothing is impossible. But if the pterosaurs still exist, what are they eating?
If anyone is an expert on the subject can you shed some light on the creatures niche, just to get all the facts on the table?
While I agree that some misidentifications may have occurred in the wake of the Big Bird frenzy, I think it’s dangerous to play the “people don’t know what they are really seeing” card too often. Believe it or not, a high percentage of people here in Texas are avid outdoorsman and are familar with “pelicans” and even “storks”. The heron incident mentioned above was perpetuated by the reporter (ratings ploy), who was the only one there who uttered the name Big Bird. You’ll have to read the book to understand my reasoning on this, but a Paleontologist that I have spoken with really likes the fact that pterosaurs evolved from crocodiles. They were not dinosaurs! I certainly don’t propose Quetzacoatlus still lives, but rather an evolved, jungle dwelling Rhamphorhynchyus type (fish eater). I feel that our job as cryptozoologisists is to listen carefully to what eyewitnesses are telling us, remain open-minded and follow all the leads.
I remember one of my first experiences with the “unknown” was as a small child, growing up near Alton,IL. My family drove down the river bend and past the great Piasa Bird. I’ve been fascinated ever since, thus began my interest many years ago into mysteries and cryptozoology, at least as a spectator/observer. I now live in Houston,TX, and in my next camping trip to the hill country, or the plains, or wherever, I’ll keep my eyes to the sky. Who knows, maybe I’ll catch a glimpse of something spectacular.
If all things are possible, then it is also possible that NOT all things are possible…