I received a sighting report from a man who lives in Florida. He
says that he is acquainted with birds (that might be mistaken
for
a pterosaur). In his own words (spelling and grammar corrected):
"About 6 years ago I was sitting outside my house with a
buddy
of mine . . . about 2 or 3 in the morning . . . something caught
. . . our attention . . . [a] flying creature that flew over
our
heads towards my backyard . . . pointed wing tips, no feathers,
pointed beak and . . . long pointed thing protruding from the
back
of its head.
"I live in florida so I've seen my share of cranes . . . but this
WAS NOT a bird. A second later, something
made us look across the
street where we saw a second one flying over a house flying down
into that house's backyard. . . [The first
creature had] about 4'
long (wingspan).
"We were not drinking or on drugs! As soon as we saw the second
one across the street
we immediatly looked at each other and . . .
I said, 'was that what I think it was?' He said 'naaa it had to
be something else.'
"I
promise they were not birds."
****************************
Philippines Sighting Around 1994
[grammer and spelling corrected]
Late
in 2008, I received a report from a man in his 20's who saw
what he called a "pterodactyl," in fact two flying together, when
he was
a boy in the city of Pagbilao, Quezon Province (not to be
confused with Quezon City).
According to the eyewitness, "I think we're
not the only ones who
saw it, because my classmate told me that there are sightings of
this thing in Atimonan, Quezon [Province],
just one-half hr travel
from Pagbilao, and I was told by the local fisherman there that he
saw it several times, flying above the
sea."
I asked the young man some questions:
Q: Did the two creatures have tails?
A: YES! they have long tails about 3 to
4 meters long . . .it is
not a bird: They don't have any feathers.
Q: Did you have a good view of them?
A: Yes! I
was not the only one who saw it . . .
Q: What time of day was it?
A: It was around 2:00-3:00 pm in the afternoon . . .
He
added more:
"I saw them clearly: the SHAPE, their BAT-LIKE WINGS, a LONG NECK
and . . . I dunno if it is a horn behind their
heads. They have a long beak.
I even saw their claws between their wings. They don't have any feathers;
their body really looks like
a bat. They seldom flap their wings, about
every 3-4 sec.; thats why I knew it is not just a big bat. . . ."
I know of other similar
reports from the Philippines. It seems to me
that this creature is a ropen, like the one in Papua New Guinea. (JW)
We receive
many reports of individual ropen-like creatures, but these
two reports remind us that there are exceptions: Sometimes ropens do
not
fly alone. (JW)
****************************
New Insights Into Early History of LP Investigations
Soon after sending out
the last newsletter (012), I
received a comment from Garth Guessman (one of the
most active living-pterosaur investigators of the
past
few years). Garth contacted Dr. Carl Baugh (one
of the pioneers of these investigations) and received
this response from Baugh (about
how this got started):
Hello Garth and Duane, [late 2008]
. . . If I remember correctly, the late
Walter Lang met
Fred Brauer at one of Walt's speaking appointments. After
hearing of our mutual interest, Fred related
to Walt his
knowledge of the . . . sighting by Duane Hodgkinson . . .
I visited with Fred and Walt at the Minneapolis
Creation
Conference. As a result of these connections I proceeded
with the first venture to Papua New Guinea. Without
these
vital connections none of the work would have been possible.
Blessings, Carl Baugh
In other words,
without the brave openness of eyewitness
Duane Hodgkinson, none of these living-pterosaur expeditions
would have gotten started, for
Baugh's expeditions of 1993,
1994, and 1996 prepared the way for the other expeditions.
Hodgkinson got these investigations started.
(JW)
****************************
New Web Sites (including non-English pages)
SPANISH:
FRENCH:
Nouvelles dans le Français
****************************
See the archive of the previous
newsletter (012)
(about
"Lines of Influence," Near-collision over
Indonesia, and Georgia sightings)
****************************
Archives Contents of
the first eight issues of this newsletter
****************************
Thank you for your interest in living pterosaurs.
Please
forward this email to anyone who might be interested.
And please send me email addresses of those who might
be interested in living-pterosaur
reports. Thank you.
I need email addresses of others who might like to
receive these newsletters.
Jonathan Whitcomb
###