Pterosaur Eyewitness

Regarding the sightings by Hodgkinson and Hennessy, misidentification of a Frigate bird or a Flying Fox fruit bat seems practically impossible; those two flying creatures were anything but birds or bats. But critics have also used the word “misidentified” (or “misidentify”) for reports of living pterosaurs in the United States.

Before getting into details about that kind of supposed misidentification, what about Marfa Lights? The common rebuff, “car headlights,” comes from either ignorance of careful observations and scientific work on CE-III mystery lights around Marfa, Texas, or from just plain careless thinking. When that type of light flys around southwest Texas, and it is examined carefully (through photographs or video from cameras set up by the scientist James Bunnell), it is found to be very unlike any car headlights, even when the night-mirage phenomena is taken into account.

About Marfa Lights, I see two ways to relate the word “misidentification.” Many visitors at the Marfa Lights Viewing Park see car headlights and assume they see “Marfa Lights,” and critics of the idea that anything strange exists near Marfa, Texas, think that any reference to any strange light there must be misidentified car headlights. The critics are also guilty of misidentification.

Misidentification or Live Pterosaurs?

In that post, Hodgkinson and Hennessy make the case for a living pterosaur, with little, if any, chance for misidentification.

So what do critics mention about eyewitnesses? They mostly mention theoretical sightings or two or three that are more than a hundred years old. What a problem! Critics often ignore critical witnesses, those whose credibility has attracted cryptozoologists who interview them. So why do critics mostly ignore those important eyewitnesses? What other explanation but the obvious? They do not have any reasonable reply to the testimonies of Duane Hodgkinson and Brian Hennessy . . .

Pterosaurs Alive Today

Darren Naish has said that “sightings of pterosaur-like animals that have been reported appear to be a combination of hoaxes and misidentification of large birds and bats.” On that web page, however, he said nothing about Hodgkinson or Hennessy or any of the other eyewitnesses who have enlivened the living-pterosaur investigations since the 1990′s. His evaluation is nothing like a scientific examination; it is more like the simplistic verbage of common politics, with “a combination of” signaling to the more-wise reader that Naish has nothing particular to prove his point about the nonexistence of modern living pterosaurs.

The New Zealand Flying Slasher

Across the New Zealand, North Islands farmland and countryside, there have been for almost a century tales from farmers and hunters, of a horrid winged beast, with long sharp fangs lining its narrow, beak-like jaws. Its eyes gleam in the night, where it can be seen flying overhead, shillouted in the moon. Farmers despise it because it tears chunks from their cattle in the nightime. It is called The Flying Slasher.

One commenter remarked, “The ‘pterosaur’ of NZ is probably a megabats (like flying fox etc).” One of the problems with that conjecture is that the Flying Fox fruit bat eats fruit, not chunks of flesh from cattle.

Another commenter remarked, “I have a feeling it may be the hast eagle that was once thought to be extinct.” The problem with that conjecture is that the post refers to “a very dangerous flying reptile, with . . . abnormally long, razor-like teeth.” The Haast’s Eagle was a feathered bird, not a reptile, and it had no teeth. Whether extinct or not, the Haast’s Eagle really was an eagle, not a reptile with teeth.

From the Introduction in the cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America (second edition):

“Those who’ve been shocked at the sight of a flying creature that “should” be extinct—those eyewitnesses, more numerous than most Americans would guess, need no longer be afraid that everyone will think them crazy, and no longer need they feel alone. Those of us who’ve listened to the American eyewitnesses, we who have interviewed them, we now believe. So, if you will, consider the experiences of these ordinary persons (I’ve interviewed most of them myself) and accept whatever enlightenment you may.”

The Marfa Lights have captivated the scientist James Bunnell, who has lived much of his life in this part of southwest Texas. For at least eight years, he has searched for them, photographed them, and analyzed the images captured; but a clear understanding of the more mysterious lights has evaded capture. I recommend his book, Hunting Marfa Lights, for anyone interested in the scientific analysis of relevant data.

Amazon.com Review by Whitcomb (first paragraph; under reviews, see “By jdw”)

Mr. Bunnell has spent years of work and considerable expense (purchasing and putting together equipment and housing for it) investigating the mysterious lights (“ML”) around Marfa, Texas. This book gives more than just a description of his experiences, interesting as they are: It gives us an objective evaluation of some of the most popular hyphtheses on the what and why of these lights. The pros and cons of different origination-suggestions do not give us a precise and undisputed explanation for what causes them, but it shows us how mysterious they really are.

Although I have not yet received any indication that Mr. Bunnell has reconsidered the possibility of bioluminescent predators in southwest Texas, his book (Hunting Marfa Lights) continues to provide me with hints that this biological explanation is the correct interpretation.

Now to other writings on the living-pterosaur possibility:

Indava of Papua New Guinea and Marfa Lights

Paul Nation’s two expeditions deep into the interior of the mainland of Papua New Guinea, in late 2006 and in 2007—those have given new knowledge of the indava, although he was not able to personally see any detailed features of the creatures he observed at night; he saw only the lights produced by those creatures. But his associate, Jacob Kepas, did see one of the creatures and in daylight: The large indava was sleeping high up on a cliff, near Tawa Village. . . .

. . . Have you noticed anyone comment on Jacob Kepas’s sighting in late 2006? It reminds me of a recent article printed in the Houston Chronicle, in which the things I have not experienced personally are emphasized and all the eyewitness sighting reports, seven years of investigations and eyewitness interviews, are completely ignored. What difference does it make that I, Jonathan Whitcomb, have not yet seen a living pterosaur, when countless people around the world see these creatures?

Marfa Light Encounter

. . . the Marfa mystery lights “have exhibited . . bobbing up and down, splitting and changing colors with occasional retrograde motion . . . Most of them have been red, occasionally fading to orange . . . I have seen individual ones split into as many as three, dance around each other and recombine.”

This behavior is easier to understand in terms of a group of bioluminescent flying predators, rather than non-living sources. Why would balls of energy fly in such complex ways, splitting and later rejoining? Without any reference to living organisms, all previous explanations for these truly mysterious flying lights have failed miserably to account for this complex behavior. But a group of intelligent . . . nocturnal flying predators could have a number of reasons for hunting with complex coordinated flights. Whales have shown remarkable intelligence in coordinated hunting behavior; why should not a species of intelligent flying creatures coordinate their hunting?

Old Accounts of Marfa Lights

. . . [Brian] Dunning does go into one detail about written histories in this part of Texas. He mentions the memoirs of Robert Ellison, whose descendants declare that he told them about the lights appearing in old times; but Dunning says that the memoirs mention nothing about those lights. Dunning says, “Curious that he would leave that out.” Why should that be curious? To those who have lived many years around Marfa, in old times (before Marfa Lights became famous), what is so special about those lights? Why should any of the old timers have written anything about those lights long ago, before any outsiders took notice? Those lights rarely had more than a gram’s weight of importance to old timers.

How do Marfa Lights relate to biology, in particular to sightings of living pterosaurs? Not by a direct correlation, such as an eyewitness discerning wings while looking at a Marfa Light through a telescope, at least not yet. But there are indirect correlations.

While reading Hunting Marfa Lights (for the second time, it’s a great book), I was struck by an account of a flying “ML” (mystery light) that Mr. Bunnell witnessed in November of 2002. The light was flying where there was no road, and fast enough that it could not have been any vehicle off-road. He noticed that the light went out two or three times, remaining off for a few seconds at a time. What caught my attention was Bunnell’s impression (on page 67) of the reappearance of the light: It “would begin with a brilliant flash of light as if the ML was somehow recharged while in an off state.”

How telling! That reminded me of the light from the ropen of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea, and the flying lights seen by the British biologist Evelyn Cheesman, on the mainland, west of Umboi. Those lights are very limited in how long they remain on, only a few seconds. We believe the flying creatures recharge their intrinsic bioluminescent capacity during the off-state; it could be the production of a secretion involved with the bioluminescence. (When I say “we,” I refer to my associates in cryptozoology, not Bunnell or Cheesman.)

Marfa Lights to Monstrous Heights

A newspaper reporter seemed to have rejected my opinion about Marfa Lights, because of my apparent lack of relevant scientific training, at least when compared with the education of Mr. Bunnell. She missed the point.

. . . since Ms Feldman has written an article, giving an obvious opinion (that Marfa Lights are not caused by bioluminescent flying predators), what scientific training has she had? Has she ever seen any Marfa Lights? Her indirect experience (interviewing those with certain experiences) do not cause us to question her opinions; why should my indirect experience (interviewing those with certain experiences) cause her to question my opinions? She seems to have missed the critical point that my position as a writer is similar to her position as a writer: We both interview persons, then write about what we have learned. The main difference may be this: I have years of experience researching reports of living pterosaurs and flying lights that are coorelated to some of those apparent pterosaurs (and a few months experience researching Marfa Lights); Ms Feldman has a few days of experience researching Marfa Lights.

Bioluminescent Pterosaurs in America

How critical is this to the possibility that Marfa Lights are caused by bioluminescent flying predators! Some eyewitnesses see living pterosaurs and a few see glowing pterosaurs.

. . . a lady who was on a cruise in the Caribbean, with family members. Her daughter brought her onto the deck one night, anxious for her to see what was flying over the sea. The mother . . . saw two apparent pterosaurs, glowing and flying back and forth . . .

Flying Under the Radar in Marfa, Texas

What is the best hiding place for what may be living pterosaurs near Marfa? It’s probably not the caves that are said to be scattered around the old volcanic landscape, nor the suspicions of ranchers who don’t like trespassers, nor the dark of night, nor low flights of the predators. What best hides possible pterosaurs near Marfa is Western dogma about dinosaurs and pterosaurs becoming extinct millions of years ago: universal extinction dogma.

Glowing “pterodactyls?” In North America? Non-extinct? What could be more strange? Before dismissing the idea, consider some eyewitness sightings in North America, in light of reports of glowing pterosaurs in the southwest Pacific. But notwithstanding reports appear to be more numerous from some remote tropical islands, there are now enough sightings in North America to justify comparing them to sightings of featherless, apparently-bioluminescent flying creatures in the southwest Pacific.

Caribbean Sighting of Two Glowing Pterosaurs

A recent example is from a lady who was on a cruise in the Caribbean, with family members. Her daughter brought her onto the deck one night, anxious for her to see what was flying over the sea. The mother, who had not been drinking, saw two apparent pterosaurs, glowing and flying back and forth, sometimes closer to the ship.

Peter Beach’s Sightings in Washington State

According to the second edition of Live Pterosaurs in America, night sightings in the state of Washington included one by the college biology professor Peter Beach (2007).

“I went on a short trip to the Yakima River . . . because there was a [sighting]. We were unable to get a picture but we saw many . . . flashing lights. I would have assumed that [they] were fireflies but we [don’t] have them in Washington. . . . Many flashes were parallel to the river. The river at that point [has] a crook . . . and there were many fish . . . Prime hunting grounds for fish-eating birds. Only these things fish at night with bioluminescence. At first I thought I was just seeing shooting stars, but they were all parallel to the river and close to the horizon.”

The next year (summer of 2008), Professor Beach participated in another expedition at the Yakima River.

“During the short expedition I led with the O’Donnells, mid-July, we saw three hours of bioluminescent ‘shooting stars.’ The last hour was the most interesting in that there were two light blasts about 200 ft. apart, about 50-100 ft., above the river. The blasts were followed by screeches from about a dozen or so agitated nighthawks in the general area.”

During the second expedition, Professor Beach had a rather close encounter with a flying creature that he suspected was one of the ones that had been displaying the bioluminescence (although it was not glowing when it flew just over the professor’s head).

“The shape of the flying animal I saw was 3-4 ft. wingspan, 2-3 ft. long, with a bat-like wing. The neck/head was obvious but only in silhouette, and I could not make out a tail or feet. If the tail is thin, I probably was not close enough to see it even if it was there. The wing beat rate caused me to arrive at the size and altitude. The wing [beat] was similar to a Canadian Goose; a seagull beats its wings faster, a Nighthawk (wingspan 18 in.) faster still.”

San Fernando Valley, California, Sighting

“It was late in the evening almost dark . . . I was walking from my car to my house [in Sun Valley] and something in the sky caught my eye. My girlfriend also looked up and right away said is that a bat . . . What caught my eye was the bright radiation like light coming from the belly of this Pterodactyl looking animal. I seen it fly right above us maybe 150 -200 feet  and this thing wasn’t no bat it was bigger with large wing span and when it flapped its wings it was kind of a slow lazy flap kind of gliding . . .”

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Live Pterosaurs in America

The first paragraph in the Introduction of the third edition of this non-fiction cryptozoology book:

This book might make a few Americans uneasy to walk alone at night; my intention, however, is not to frighten but to enlighten as many readers as possible to know about live-pterosaur investigations. Those who’ve been shocked at the sight of a flying creature that “should” be extinct—those eyewitnesses, more numerous than most Americans would guess, need no longer be afraid that everyone will think them crazy, and no longer need they feel alone. Those of us who’ve listened to the American eyewitnesses, we who have interviewed them, we now believe. So, if you will, consider the experiences of these ordinary persons (I’ve interviewed most of them myself) and accept whatever enlightenment you may.