Thunderbird Seen in Iowa?

I am more and more inclined to assign these sightings to Andean condors quite plausibly extending their range into North America.  Juveniles would tend to be grey and generally less distinctive.

That the witnessed flying behavior from a great distance allows anyone other than an experienced observer to easily mistake the bird for a turkey buzzard is pretty clear.  Thus almost all distance sightings will be mistaken and identification will naturally rely on the wing motion which emulates a buzzard.

Let us be serious.  I identify all swallows purely by their flight long before I can discern coloration.  The same holds for crows and gulls.  That is also usually enough to send my interest elsewhere.

Again they are nocturnal and typically bed down inside the apron of large trees.  However, if daytime flying keeps them high and looking like smaller cousins,  Then perhaps they are way more common than we ever thnouight.

Thunderbird Seen in Iowa?

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Thunderbird Seen in Iowa?  

http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.ca/

This is a recent report sent to me, I have withheld the last name and included a map of the generalarea. –Tom

Name: Corey ****(Last Name withheld but on file)
State: Iowa
County: Van Buren
Date of Sighting: July 4,2008
Time of Day: around 3 pm
Nearest Town: Keosauqua
Length of Sighting: about 15 minutes
How many Witnesses: 3 others besides myself
Any Photos/Videos: no

Describe sighting in detail: 

I truly believe Thunderbirds are migrating up and down the Des Moines River in Iowa. I am an experienced bird watcher and have a trained eye for detail and have seen over 300 species in my county. In December 2006, 2 big birds were seen by bridge construction workers and she described them as very dark with some white on the wings and were twice as big as a bald eagle and I tried convincing a woman that they were golden eagles but she quickly said no as she was very familiar with eagles. However sometime after that she changed them to the golden eagle. I watched for them but no luck.

However, on July 4,2008 I was fishing on the other side of the river from Keosauqua during the afternoon and I saw a large dark bird flapping with hard and deep beats for a long distance down the river and I thought an osprey or bald eagle because of the long crooked wings when it glided for a short distance. I watched it with my 16x50 binoculars as it flew down the river and it started soaring around in circles and to my surprise was a turkey vulture but it was different. It resembled a turkey vulture but it had a large head not small head, broader tail and much broader wings but it had the silvery wing feathers. Its flight pattern was different and it must have been a heavy bird with all the deep flapping. A turkey vulture rarely does and soars more and when they glide they hold their wings in a V and this bird glided with crooked wings as I mistook it for an osprey which are rare here in summer but bald eagles are nesting along this river. I didn't have a camera and only binoculars. I was fishing with 3 other guys but they didn't pay much attention to it.

A large bird was sighted recently in Illinois resembled a turkey vulture but it was different. It resembled a turkey vulture but it had a large head not small head, broader tail and much broader wings but it had the silvery wing feathers. Its flight pattern was different and it must have been a heavy bird with all the deep flapping. A turkey vulture rarely does and soars more and when they glide they hold their wings in a V and this bird glided with crooked wings as I mistook it for an osprey which are rare here in summer but bald eagles are nesting along this river. I didn't have a camera and only binoculars. I was fishing with 3 other guys but they didn't pay much attention to it.

A large bird was sighted recently in Illinois resembled a turkey vulture but twice as big.
A large black bird was reported in Central Iowa around the same time as the big birds down here on December 13,2007. I am very confident that the bird I saw was no ordinary turkey vulture. There is an Indian thunderbird symbol in Lacey-Keosauqua State Park.

-End of Report