Big Bird!: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters

BY: KEN GERHARD Big Bird is the name of a cryptid that flew over the Rio Grande area in 1976. It was the subject of jokes and concern. Most witnesses described this unknown mysterious animal, UMA, as about five feet tall, featherless and having a long beak, bat-like wings, and a monkeylike face. All of the following reports have come from the Rio Grande area.

Big Bird!: Modern Sightings of Flying Monsters was written by Ken Gerhard, who is a professional cryptid hunter, and has investigated reports of mysterious beasts around the world including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, giant winged creatures like Mothman and Thunderbird and even werewolves.

Description
Called by myth the Thunderbird, a winged monster so vast that the beating of its mighty pinions sounded like thunder. But this ancient beast is not to be held in the cage of mythology.

Today, from all over the dusty U.S. / Mexican border come hair-raising stories of modern day encounters with winged monsters of immense size and terrifying appearance. Further field sightings of similar creatures are recorded from all around the globe. The Kongamato of Africa, the Ropen of New Guinea and many others. What lies behind these weird tales? Ken Gerhard is in pole position to find out. A native Texan, he lives in the homeland of the monster some call 'Big Bird'. Cryptozoologist, author, adventurer, and gothic musician Ken is a larger than life character as amazing as the Big Bird itself.

Ken's scholarly work is the first of its kind. The research and fieldwork involved are indeed impressive. On the track of the monster, Ken uncovers cases of animal mutilations, attacks on humans and mounting evidence of a stunning zoological discovery ignored by mainstream science. Something incredible awaits us on the broad desert horizon.

Review
Although the sightings seem to be mostly in Texas, some of them are really interesting, even shocking. For me, however, the lack of editing, for at least some of the content, gave me an unpleasant surprise (so I gave it three instead of four stars). Still, some of these accounts may not be available in other cryptozoological resources, for the author has interviewed at least some of the eyewitnesses himself. Although I found a little evidence that the author was sometimes careless about the accuracy of data, the problem appeared to be a limited problem. If you are seriously interested in strange flying creatures not classified in biology textbooks, this book is one of the few worth having (few nonfiction books contain sightings of possible pterosaurs).

It is comparable with other nonfictions with much content about apparent living pterosaurs. It is not packed with sightings from U.S. states other than Texas (as is "Live Pterosaurs in America"). It is a useful resource for sightings of possible pterosaurs and possible giant birds mostly within Texas.