Golden eagle snatches lamb from hillside

Photo: KETTS NEWS

This photo was taken sometime during the last week of February near Ben More on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. A birdwatcher who didn't want to be named, so a golden eagle with and 8-foot wingspan snatch a lamb from a hillside.

The birdwatcher recounted the sighting: “There were a few other cars parked close by and some eagles circling, possibly by an eyrie.

“Suddenly this massive eagle swooped into view. We could see it was carrying something beneath it and my wife, who had binoculars, thought it was a white mountain hare.

“As it got closer, I said to her, ‘That’s no hare, it’s a lamb’. It was a very unusual sight and a bit sad for the lamb, but that’s nature. It’s certainly a sight that neither of us will forget.”

It is thought that the lamb belonged to a flock of 1,700 kept by Donald MacLean, who farms 10,000 acres on the island. Mr. MacLean said, “This is a hugely significant photograph, catching the eagle in the act. It proves eagles are carrying off lambs, evidence that farmers need to make their point.”

It is for such a reason that the birdwatcher refused to divulge the exact location of the sighting, for fear that angry farmers would raid the eagles' nests. Local farmers are upset over a recent program that aims to reintroduce white-tailed sea eagles to the region. Britain's largest bird of prey is thought to have taken more than 200 lambs on one Highland peninsula in a single year.

Indeed, farmers were probably glad when the golden eagle went extinct in Scotland due to hunting during the Victorian era, and the species was reintroduced to Scotland from Norway in 1975. Despite the fact that there are only 30 breeding pairs in Scotland, some poisoned carcasses were discovered last year and an outcry over the poisonings led to the establishment of special protection areas for golden eagles.

This picture lends credence to the theory that known species of giant birds could be responsible for many supposed Thunderbird reports in which birds carried of pigs or children.

SOURCES AND MORE INFORMATION: The Telegraph

Thunderbird sighting?

Wow! A possible Thunderbird sighting! Check it out:

August 26, 2010

Was this Another Close Range Encounter with a Thunderbird Near South Greensburg, Pennsylvania?
By Researcher Stan Gordon
www.stangordon.info

On the evening of August 26, 2010, about 8:10 pm, there was a sighting of a monstrous bird in South Greensburg, PA. Just as it was getting dark, four people were sitting around in the yard having a barbecue and enjoying the beautiful weather when suddenly, their attention was drawn skyward by a sound like a “swish” or a “swoosh” or as one witness stated, “like air coming straight down.

”Several of the observers at almost the same time yelled out some exclamations including one man who said, “What the hell is that?” They were all startled to see a tremendously large bird that was flying over a tree in the yard about 30-40 feet overhead. The man who was doing the cooking turned and looked up to see the creature fly above him at a distance of about 40 feet away. As the bird passed the tree, it veered slightly to the right and went straight down the road ahead, maintaining its low level path.

When first observed, the massive wings of the creature were in an upward position and were beginning to drop slowly, almost as if they were rolling to the bottom. The swoosh sound could be heard when the wings were moving. The powerful bird had flown about 125 yards down the road, at which time the wings were coming back up. The creature was observed as it continued to move steadily down the road, passing just above the roof top of a house with its wings flapping slowly and steadily about 3-4 time until it reached a group of trees about ¼ mile away, where it was lost from sight. It took about 20 seconds to go the ¼ mile distance.

I interviewed two of the witnesses at the scene and they were able to provide a detailed description of the giant flying creature. As it passed over, it appeared as though it was peering below, with its head and beak positioned downward. It was estimated that if the bird was on the ground it would stand between 4 ½ to 5 feet tall. The entire body was the same dark color, either darkish brown or black. The body width was about 25-30 inches wide. One witness said the body, “was very bulky and husky.”

The head was oval shaped, and the beak was short for the size of the animal, about 8-10 inches long. The tail was about 2 feet long and came out wide to a point. It was the size of the wingspan of the creature that impressed the witnesses, which they estimated at 10 feet or more in length. When asked why nobody thought to take a picture, they pointed out that while there were cell phones lying there with camera functions, all involved were mesmerized by the encounter. One fellow I talked with said that after the experience he felt as if he was “almost in shock.”

It was later learned that another witness who lived along the road where the big bird flew over also reportedly  saw the creature. One witness has been a long time hunter and is very familiar with birds native to the state and is certain that he saw something quite unusual. The area where these observations have taken place, while surrounded with some wooded locations, is well populated, and nearby Route 119 is a highly traveled roadway.

There has been a long history of sightings of giant birds with oversized wingspans in Pennsylvania as well as other sections of the United States and elsewhere. Many refer to these giant flying creatures as “Thunderbirds.” It is interesting to note that over the years around the same general area as this sighting, other residents have reported a similar strange “swoosh” sound, as though a huge bird had passed overhead, but nothing was seen.

Now years later, here is another detailed close range observation of a huge flying creature just a short distance away from the location where in 2001, a similar observation had taken place. It was on September 25, 2001, that a witness reported seeing a huge, dark colored bird flying about 50-60 feet above the traffic along Route 119 in South Greensburg. The observer was drawn to look upwards when he heard a sound, “like flags flapping in a thunderstorm.” That witness was stunned by the wingspan of the flying creature which he estimated was between 10 and 15 feet.

If you have any additional information on this incident please contact me at: paufo@comcast.net.

A bit of Thunderbird history

From Sunday's Tucson Citizen:

While our eyes are turned to the sky this summer with mass UFO sightings, we should also be on the lookout for another type of UFO in the sky: reportedly giant birds.

An event that occurred 33 years ago triggered a period of mass sightings of the mythical Thunderbird.

On July 25, 1977, three little boys were playing in a Lawndale, Illinois back yard when two giant birds swooped down on them. Two of the boys ran away, but the birds shifted their focus toward the third boy: ten-year-old Marlon Lowe.

One of the birds clamped onto the boy’s shoulders and reportedly attempted to fly off with him. The boy was  reportedly lifted two feet off the ground by the bird before he fought back against it, which caused the bird to lose its grip on him. Some accounts report that the boy was lifted up to ten feet off the ground.

The good news is that the boy escaped the clutches of the bird.

Thunderbirds haven’t escaped the clutches of the media, especially in the Grand Canyon State. The earliest known published account of a giant bird can be found in a Tombstone, Arizona newspaper.

In April of 1890, two cowboys were said to have killed one. The men said it had the face of an alligator, smooth skin and featherless bat-like wings. The description matched that of a prehistoric pterodactyl.

A photograph of the dead Thunderbird was said to have been published in the Tombstone Epitaph.

However, searches through the paper’s archive for a photo have proved to be as illusive as the Thunderbird itself. Archives do not reveal a photograph, but simply an article about a dead bird with a 16-foot wingspan.