I saw something like that in the spring or early summer of 2002 or 2003 in North Carolina. I was living in the Sauratown Mountains, a small range just east of the Blue Ridge (Pilot Mountain is one of the Sauratowns), It was large, and black all over, no white anywhere that I could see, and it's beak appeared to be somewhat heavier than an eagle's beak - the beak too was black rather than yellow.
The first time I saw it, it flew between two pine trees growing on either side of my driveway, and it's wingtips seems to brush the treetops of both of those trees. I later measured the pines and found they were slightly over 12 feet apart, so I presumed the wingspan to be about 12 feet.
I saw it twice, once when it brushed those trees, and again a couple of days later flying low over a mountain meadow just south of the place I was living on. Folks that didn't see it seemed to think it was a Golden Eagle, which occasionally fly through that area when migrating, but it was bigger than a Golden Eagle - around twice as big. I've never seen a Golden Eagle (unless that was a mutant one), but I've seen several Bald Eagles in both NC and here, and that was easily twice the size of a Bald Eagle, and had neither the white head, white tail, or yellow beak that they have.
When you get into the range of birds with wingspans over 10 feet, there really isn't all that much difference between 12 and 14 feet, so I have no problem believing the pilot's estimates of the Alaskan Big Bird's wing span after seeing that one.
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The first time I saw it, it flew between two pine trees growing on either side of my driveway, and it's wingtips seems to brush the treetops of both of those trees. I later measured the pines and found they were slightly over 12 feet apart, so I presumed the wingspan to be about 12 feet.
I saw it twice, once when it brushed those trees, and again a couple of days later flying low over a mountain meadow just south of the place I was living on. Folks that didn't see it seemed to think it was a Golden Eagle, which occasionally fly through that area when migrating, but it was bigger than a Golden Eagle - around twice as big. I've never seen a Golden Eagle (unless that was a mutant one), but I've seen several Bald Eagles in both NC and here, and that was easily twice the size of a Bald Eagle, and had neither the white head, white tail, or yellow beak that they have.
When you get into the range of birds with wingspans over 10 feet, there really isn't all that much difference between 12 and 14 feet, so I have no problem believing the pilot's estimates of the Alaskan Big Bird's wing span after seeing that one.
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