Here in NC, where I live (only this was out in the mountains in the western part of the state), there is a mountain that the Indians feared. Many of their children disappeared, never to be seen again, and it is said they were taken by these giant birds (not based on their conjecture; based on eyewitness accounts). There was even an interview with a perfectly normal family..........who damned near lost one of their sons when one of these "super birds" grabbed him and carried him halfway across their very sizeable yard..............the bird eventually dropped him (he was about nine years old and just a bit too large).
Anyway, cool-but-scary stuff. I have absolutely no doubt that these folks saw this type of critter.
Days of Noah time. Perhaps it could be something like one of the first two below:
1. California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) ~ The California Condor had a wingspan of 9-10 feet.
California condors or their ancestor species have inhabited North America since at least the Pliestocene era, from which fossils have been found ranging from the Los Angeles La Brea tar pits to Florida. An ancestor of the California condor, Teratornis incredibilis had a wingspan of 17 feet and may have been the largest bird ever to fly. The modern G. californianus , though reduced from this prehistoric size, is still the largest North American landbird with a documented wingspan of up to 9.8 feet and reported spans of 11 and 13 feet. Some Western Native American tribes traditionally recognised California condors as sacred birds; feathers and other tokens were used for ceremonies and religious purposes. Although the Condors were occasionally sacrificed for funeral rituals, the original population size of G. californianus remained relatively unaffected by humans until the European colonization.2. See medved's post here -> 16 about the argentinian teratorn (Argentavis magnificens) which was a 200-lb eagle which had a 25 foot wingspan.
3. Weird Fossilized Flying Reptile 'A Vision of Hell' ~ (a large fossilized bird, but not an eagle)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have found the remains of one of the weirdest creatures ever discovered -- a big flying reptile that lived during the time of the dinosaurs that snapped up fish with a scissors-like beak as it skimmed over the water and had a head crowned by a huge, bony crest.Brazilian ( news - web sites) scientists Alexander Kellner and Diogenes de Almeida Campos on Thursday described a previously unknown type of pterosaur (pronounced TER-oh-sawr), winged reptiles that were cousins of the dinosaurs.
The find is important both for the oddity of its cranial crest and for the insight that the animal offers into how pterosaurs hunted for food, the researchers said. They named it Thalassodromeus sethi (pronounced thal-ahs-oh-DROH-mee-us SETH-ee), meaning "sea runner" and "Seth," for the ancient Egyptian god of evil and chaos. ...