So, shifting away this week from the legend of thunderbirds toward actual reported sightings of the creatures, I started with the question: Where was the most recent, credible sighting reported?
I surveyed a few different paranormal and cryptozoology blogs looking for stories of thunderbird encounters, including www.monstertracker.com, www.unknown-creatures.com, www.paranormal.about.com and www.unexplained-mysteries.com. It appears that there have been regular sightings of thunderbirds across the U.S. up until at least 2010. The frequency of reports was surprising. There was at least one every two or three years that these different blogs considered noteworthy.
Unfortunately, these websites were generally light on substantial evidence to actually prove many of these stories. A lot of them were simply emails from random people who claimed to have seen a thunderbird, or they at least knew someone who had seen one. It is difficult to prove or discredit such stories. They certainly COULD have happened, but you really have to put a lot of faith in the person submitting them in order to believe what they are saying.
I’ve begun looking for evidence of thunderbird sightings in media, focusing in particular in local newspapers. One recent case I found, which occurred in Alaska, was very interesting.
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