Thanks for the post and the link to this very interesting article, Nick. Makes you wonder where/how these birds could have nested. A lot of the heavier extant birds are ground-nesters (obviously the flightless ratites must be), but given this megafaunal species' apparent inability for vertical take-off, I'm assuming that high cliffs and rock outcrops of sufficient space were its nesting sites. With all due respect to the "Big Bird" and Thunderbird investigations, one problem that I've had accepting that such a cryptid exists is that no one's ever found its nests, which, given the ever-increasing encroachment of civilization through "ecotourism," must be highly conspicuous. (Nobody who ever lived to tell about it, anyway! An added risk for mountain climbers, hang gliders, and wildnerness pilots?!)
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Thanks for the post and the link to this very interesting article, Nick.
Makes you wonder where/how these birds could have nested. A lot of the heavier extant birds are ground-nesters (obviously the flightless ratites must be), but given this megafaunal species' apparent inability for vertical take-off, I'm assuming that high cliffs and rock outcrops of sufficient space were its nesting sites. With all due respect to the "Big Bird" and Thunderbird investigations, one problem that I've had accepting that such a cryptid exists is that no one's ever found its nests, which, given the ever-increasing encroachment of civilization through "ecotourism," must be highly conspicuous. (Nobody who ever lived to tell about it, anyway! An added risk for mountain climbers, hang gliders, and wildnerness pilots?!)
AWT:
That's a very good point re the nest issue, although if I recall correctly, Ken Gerhard's book on the subject does discuss a couple of nest cases.
I'll ask Ken his opinion on this and see what he has to say.
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