Did an Experienced Bird Watcher observe a Thunderbird in Pennsylvania?
July 21, 2014-Indiana County, PA
From Researcher: Stan Gordon
When I received this call from the witness, it was apparent that he was still having difficulty dealing with the fact that he had observed something that he could not identify. The fellow had been watching and studying the birds of Pennsylvania as a hobby for many years. He knew that what he saw was very strange and he went back and studied his bird reference books before contacting me.
It was late afternoon on July 21, 2014, when the witness was driving through a rural area of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, that he noticed something in the sky that attracted his attention. In the distance, he observed what he first thought was a low flying small aircraft. That was until he noticed the wings were flapping very slowly. He soon realized that he was watching the largest bird he had ever seen.
The gigantic bird was dark brown in color, and he could see a broad semicircular tail/rump area. The witness, who is very familiar with the birds in the state such as the egret, heron, crane and eagle, said that the wingspan dwarfed that of an eagle and he estimated the wingspan of this huge bird to have been longer than twelve feet. He watched the bird fly over the wooded area until it was lost from sight. The man stated that he was in a state of slight disbelief but estimated his total sighting to have lasted about 20 seconds.
A note of interest is that there are a number of power lines close to the area of observation. Also, the location of the sighting is within a mile and a half of the Homer City power station. I have mentioned this before, but I have noted for years that many cryptid encounters as well as low level UFO sightings quite often occur in the vicinity of energy sources.