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A super-sized bird in Alaska
Scripps ^ | 10/15/2002 | Pter Forco

Posted on 10/15/2002 7:19:33 PM PDT by SteveH

A super-sized bird in Alaska By PETER PORCO Anchorage Daily News October 15, 2002

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A giant winged creature, like something out of Jurassic Park, has reportedly been sighted several times in Southwest Alaska in recent weeks.

Villagers in Togiak and Manokotak say they have seen a huge bird that's much bigger than anything they have seen before.

A pilot says he spotted the creature while flying passengers to Manokotak last week. He calculated that its wingspan matched the length of a wing on his Cessna 207. That's about 14 feet.

Other people have put the wingspan in a similar range.

Scientists aren't sure what to make of the reports. No one doubts that people in the region west of Dillingham have seen a very large rapto-like bird. But biologists and other people familiar with big Alaska birds say they're skeptical it's that big.

A recent sighting of the mystery bird occurred Oct. 10 when Moses Coupchiak, a 43-year-old heavy equipment operator from Togiak, 40 miles west of Manokotak, saw the bird flying toward him from about two miles away as he worked his tractor.

"At first I thought it was one of those old-time Otter planes," Coupchiak said. "Instead of continuing toward me, it banked to the left, and that's when I noticed it wasn't a plane."

The bird was "something huge," he said. "The wing looks a little wider than the Otter's, maybe as long as the Otter plane."

The bird flew behind a hill and disappeared. Coupchiak got on the radio and warned people in Togiak to tell their children to stay away.

Pilot John Bouker said he was highly skeptical of reports of "this great big eagle" that is two or three times the size of a bald eagle. "I didn't put any thought into it."

But early this week while flying into Manokotak, Bouker, owner of Bristol Bay Air Service, looked out his left window and 1,000 feet away, "there's this big ... . bird," he said.

"The people in the plane all saw him," Bouker said. "He's huge, he's huge, he's really, really big. You wouldn't want to have your children out."

Nicolai Alakayak, a freight and passenger driver from Manokotak who was flying with Bouker, said the creature looked like an eagle and was as large as "a little Super Cub."

Comparison to an eagle, certainly. Super Cub? Probably not, scientists said.

"I'm certainly not aware of anything with a 14-foot wingspan that's been alive for the last 100,000 years," said federal raptor specialist Phil Schemf in Juneau.

Schemf, other biologists, a village police officer and teachers at the Manokotak School said the sightings could be of a Steller's sea eagle, a species native to northeast Asia and one of the world's largest eagles. It's about 50 percent bigger than a bald eagle.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)

Copyright © 1999 Scripps Howard News Service


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alaska; bird; cryptozoology
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1 posted on 10/15/2002 7:19:33 PM PDT by SteveH
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To: SteveH
It's a dinosaur. We're doomed.
2 posted on 10/15/2002 7:21:53 PM PDT by AM2000
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To: SteveH
I suppose that it can happen... The "experts" can be wrong... For years, people in North Kansas City (MO) had claimed that there was a mountain lion roaming around up there, but they were repeatedly told that they were wrong or mistaken...

Well, Yesterday morning, a driver accidentally hit and killed a mountain lion! Not too far from the big amusement park (World's of Fun) in North KC!

Mark
3 posted on 10/15/2002 7:23:00 PM PDT by MarkL
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To: SteveH
Does it have big feet?
4 posted on 10/15/2002 7:23:04 PM PDT by Cicero
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To: AM2000
...wingspan matched the length of a wing on his Cessna 207.

Marinate for one hour in a gallon of Tabasco sauce...

5 posted on 10/15/2002 7:24:57 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler
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To: SteveH
I'm certainly not aware of anything with a 14-foot wingspan that's been alive for the last 100,000 years," said federal raptor specialist Phil Schemf in Juneau.

Federal raptor specialist? Must be from the mohair division.

6 posted on 10/15/2002 7:25:21 PM PDT by Brett66
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To: SteveH
Probably an experimental RPV
7 posted on 10/15/2002 7:25:27 PM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: Brett66
Could be a Lynx expert in his spare time.
8 posted on 10/15/2002 7:27:35 PM PDT by tet68
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To: SteveH; dighton

9 posted on 10/15/2002 7:27:44 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal
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To: SteveH
If that Cessa 207 Only had a 14 ft wing span it would never fly.

14 feet of wing on each side would be more like it.
10 posted on 10/15/2002 7:28:09 PM PDT by BADJOE
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To: SteveH
Darned it, we left the chicken coop open agin down here in Texas!
11 posted on 10/15/2002 7:28:33 PM PDT by Cvengr
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To: SteveH
I had to work in Kodiak today with these things swarming all over!!!
12 posted on 10/15/2002 7:28:38 PM PDT by ALASKA
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To: BADJOE
Oooops! He did say a wing. : )
13 posted on 10/15/2002 7:29:27 PM PDT by BADJOE
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To: MarkL
Mountain Lions supposedly dont exist in Nebraska either, but ive talked to several people who have seen them or have friends that have seen them. Some of them have tracking collers on them, but the government denies they exist. So if there here, their definately down there.
14 posted on 10/15/2002 7:30:41 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: SteveH
I guess you know about the "Thunderbird" legends. A lot of folks think small populations of huge predatory birds called Tetratorns survived from prehistoric times to the present or near present day. Lots of sightings in Illinios
15 posted on 10/15/2002 7:31:09 PM PDT by Ahban
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To: Cicero
You know what they say about birds: The bigger the wingspan, the bigger the... feet.
16 posted on 10/15/2002 7:31:39 PM PDT by xm177e2
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To: SteveH
Pray to God that this thing doesnt take a dump on your car.
17 posted on 10/15/2002 7:32:02 PM PDT by Husker24
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To: SteveH
I've been to Alaska...
It's one of those Mosquitos they have up there!
18 posted on 10/15/2002 7:33:03 PM PDT by CHATTAB
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To: SteveH

Stellar's Sea Eagle

19 posted on 10/15/2002 7:33:52 PM PDT by Godebert
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To: SteveH
This is true,saw one once after leaving Klondike Mike's.
20 posted on 10/15/2002 7:35:59 PM PDT by mdittmar
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