Something VERY weird just happened

3:30am PST. Pacific Northwest. Seattle.

I just saw a pterodactyl; yes I am serious. No I am not high or drunk.

It was flying North at a pretty good speed.


I thought it was a very large eagle or bat or something. Until I realized how high in the air it was as it disappeared into the clouds.

Just wanted to share that story. That is seriously weird. I doubt anyone on Earth would believe me, but still. It's what I saw. I am pretty sure it was a dactyl because of the head shape and legs and wing shape.

...And will you share?:evilgrin: :crazy:

They can be found in the PNW...

they are almost 2 feet tall too. BIG birds.

a heron.



Or a crane. We have quite a good population of both around here. One flew over me while I was riding my bike and scared the bejeebus out of me. Wing span was awesome and I could hear it's wings flapping.

First, I got the direction wrong it was headed South not North.

Aside from that, I am sure of what I saw. I thought it was a bat at first, because the wings had that sort of sheen, and that ripply-ness that a bat has as compared to a bird.

The wings had no feather splay either.

Finally, while this is a guesstimation, I would put the wing-span at about 20 feet. Someone else who is better at math can do the, well math on this if they want, but when I first saw it I thought it was roughly 50 in the air and at that point estimated the span at 5 to 6 feet. As it flew though it didn't go up or down, just pretty straight and I relized as it flew over other buildings and trees into a cloud bank that it was actually over 100 feet in the air.

The way it moved.. it was like no bird I have ever seen. It kept its wings almost straight as it flapped and glided, most birds curve a little.

Well thats all for now. I need to recover.

:yoiks:

some wierd chit out there.

:)

:D

Now we know how barry got rid of the ..um....you know

Posed with one she caught this morning.




It was just a baby.

that was funny.

is she guarding her dactyl from her evil human who will promptly snatch it and throw it?

that is one seriously cute photo!

:hi:

Unfortunately proof and say-so are two different things. :tinfoilhat:

they make a harsh sound and travel in pairs and are the same size as a hawk. Awesome birds.

Nearly as large as a crow, the Pileated Woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in most of North America. Its loud ringing calls and huge, rectangular excavations in dead trees announce its presence in forests across the continent.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker.html

I've got these in my yard, infact, we have three of them. I don't see how you could possibly confuse it with anything else.

when they fly they have the same sillouette as a teryldactyl (sp?) But I personally wouldn't actually mistake the two, since the latter has been extinct for a while.

You have three? You think one's a baby? They mate and travel together, but I don't know if it is for life or just the season.

infact, they were so loud, I had no idea what the heck it was and when I looked out the bedroom window there were three very large woodpeckers two in one tree and a third in another a few feet away. My guess was a family. They all looked like adults. They disappeard for a little while this winter, but they're back now.

Or maybe it was Curious George.

But look at this:



Awww

the pink power ranger may be near by

If this guy saw a pterodactyl, it means Megazord is probably on its way.

You're right
Whew

Perhaps, we should have scraped it up and called someone who might be knowledgeable. It was relatively big. It had a pointy beak, teeth, wings, no feathers, amd claws at then end of the wings.
I suppose though that being road kill might have distorted it. Just because there weren't feathers, for example, doesn't mean that they weren't there.
I also found what I thought were trilobites in a local river. It turned out that they were aquatic sow bugs, not trilobites.

:hide:

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Could just be a heron, could be the real deal. If it is the real thing, it's probably not a remnant, just a fluke of space-time.

And at that size, it was probably something from the Pteranodon or Ornithocheirus genuses (genii?) or Quetzalcoatlus northropi. How'd the head shape look?

Like this?


This?


This?


Or this?

Could be an eagle? they can have a 10 ft wing span. I wish it was a pterodactyl though. That would be so cool.

that actually flew. (I think it was that McReady /AeroVironment group.)

Might have been them, having some fun.

Redstone

Pterodactyls are, of course, extinct; and it's way too early in the day for a visit from a giant mutant bat. Hopefully.

So I'm going to randomly speculate that you've probably seen some sort of marine raptor. Perhaps a crested albatross. While feathered, marine birds (like penguins for example) often appear to have more of a sheen than feathering. And the albatross is a huge bird with a massive, straight wingspan and a deep love of 'coasting' on the wind.

But we can put the giant mutant bats back on the table if it's important to ya. :hi:

A real pterydactyl would be cool though...