A Real Pterosaur in Pennsylvania

I refer to the blog post “Pennsylvania Pterosaur”

What caught my attention to this sighting was the obvious rebuttal to the model-pterodactyl-misidentification suggestion that I occasionally read about. There is no mechanical model, of a pterosaur, that catches and eats ducks or rats. Let me explain with reference to this apparent pterosaur in Pennsylvania, quoting from both the Live Pterosaur blog mentioned and the source for that posting on that blog.

In 2006 myself and two of my students were standing outside of my karate school. My school was located on route 119 . . . In Southwest Greensburg PA. This is by no means a rural area.

I noticed a large black bird in the sky. . . . I observed it for about two minutes as it flew towards us very slowly (it seemed slow) until it was maybe another 50 feet away from the tree line . . .  Being that far up the “birds” body still appeared to be much larger than my 100 pound dog (wider and longer).

I called my students attention to it and they were both instantly mesmerized. The wing span appeared to be at least six feet . . . you could clearly make out a long “horn” or “cone” type protrusion coming out of the back of its skull, which was at the end of an elongated neck . . .

This “bird” also seemed to have a long tail . . . As it was almost directly over us we all agreed we couldn’t see feathers anywhere and my student Carrie said “It looks like pterodactyl . . .  doesn’t it?”

It flew over top us and landed in the water behind the school. It was like city run off or whatever and was in a concrete ravine about 15 feet deep [the water itself is shallow] . . .

We could here it splashing around, and Carrie ran around the building to see it. There are always ducks in that water as well as rats and other things. When she came back . . . she said it had taken off, Carrie said it was in the water splashing and eating or grabbing something in its mouth.

No mechanical model would dive into a pool of water, grab an animal or bird, and fly away with the meal in its mouth. But before setting aside the subject of misidentified models airplanes or model gliders, in the shapes of pterosaurs, I refer to the 1944 “pterodactyl” sighting by Duane Hodgkinson. In that sighting, the flying creature with a wingspan of a Piper Tri-Pacer could not have been a man-made model.

I could go on with other sightings but let this suffice: model pterosaurs have no relevance to many critical sighting reports. Critics needs to be more careful before commenting.

Pterosaur Misidentification in Cuba?

“I saw two pterosaurs . . . flying together . . . perhaps 100 feet [high], very close in range from where I was standing, so that I had a perfectly clear view of them.

Eskin Kuhn, a talented artist, drew a sketch of the two pterosaurs, soon after observing them. Misidentification is unlikely, since he was in close range of them and there was no obstruction, and they were very unlike any bird or bat.