This is not to illuminate the bioluminescent pterosaur of Marfa, Texas, or of Umboi Island, Papua New Guinea. Indeed, that kind of glow actually hides the form and features of the flying creature that produces the light. Setting aside bioluminescence, we now consider why some night sightings have contributed to the credibility of the live-pterosaur investigations.

I recall part of a comment from a critic, some years ago, ridiculing the credibility of eyewitnesses who “misidentify” birds or bats at night. But he was only tossing out a generalization, assuming that all reported sightings (those encounters that serious invesigators publicize) all fit neatly into his mental image of a dark landscape where people imagine that birds and bats are pterosaurs. Science thrives on details of human experience, so let’s examine particular sightings.

Rhamphorhynchoid Pterosaur in Sudan, Africa

In this sighting, the eyewitness could see details, for the flying creature was close and it was lit by a nearby porch light.

The boy was walking from one mud-brick hut to another, one night in 1988, carrying a tray of food for family members. . . . The boy froze as the creature stretched its wings and hopped right over his head, causing him to drop the metal tray of dishes.

Driving Near Kenton, Ohio

In the third edition of my book Live Pterosaurs in America, I mentioned a sighting near Kenton, Ohio.

At 11:15 p.m., she was driving near Kenton, Ohio, on Route 309. With clear sky and a still-full moon, the landscape was brightly lit. A creature swooped down—an obvious “pterodactyl”—gliding gracefully over the hood of her car. She watched it fly into some dense underbrush of trees. . . . “I could see almost the bones in its wings but I did NOT see feathers at all. None. . . . it was bright out . . . because of the full moon being high in the sky.”

Nocturnal Pterosaurs in San Diego

In this sighting in San Diego, California, the two flying creatures (witnessed by two men) were probably lit from both top and bottom: from the moon and from the city lights (although the eyewitness who reported the encounter to me mentioned only the lighting from the moon).

From the west came this dark object in the sky. It was right over us about, I say, 40 yards [high]. As it got closer we both yelled, “What the hell is that?” It looked like a huge bird. It was gliding . . . I began yelling at it . . .

That was a large flying creature at low altitude, perhaps coming within 140 feet of the eyewitnesses. The lighting was adequate for the two eyewitnesses to see the details that were later given to me.

How fortunate that I noticed that email message! An eyewitness reported a pterosaur sighting in San Diego, California (in my own backyard, compared with Papua New Guinea where I started searching for pterosaurs in 2004). Two flying creatures were seen at about 8:00 p.m., on November 4, 2011, near the junction of two freeways (Hwy 94 and Hwy 805). In his own words (after some English corrections):

“I was at my friend’s house. Well it was a really clear night, because it had rained the day before. We were standing in the street and I couldn’t keep my eyes off the stars, they were really bright. Then from the west came this dark object in the sky. It was right over us about, I say, 40 yards [high]. As it got closer we both yelled, “What the hell is that?” It looked like a huge bird. It was gliding . . . I was stuck looking at it the entire time. I began yelling at it, then it turned around and it stood still in the air. It was flapping its wings while it was there. Then outta nowhere here came another one. It was waiting for it; as it got close to the other one, they both went east.”

From looking at all his emails, I believe that “outta nowhere here came another one” is a figure of speech and that the second creature flew from the direction of the ocean like the first one had.

I later talked with the eyewitness by phone, verifying his credibility (I found nothing in his words or manner of speaking that would suggest the possibility of a hoax). He varied in his estimate of the flying height: thirty yards instead of forty yards. The tail was long and straight. With one of the flying creatures, he noticed a movement that he interpreted as evidence for the animal’s breathing. I asked the man to send me the other eyewitness’s phone number, if his friend would agreed to be interviewed.

This account is consistent with the concept that modern pterosaurs are mostly nocturnal, generally flying at night much more than in daylight. Why are some sightings during the day? They are probably the exceptions, suggesting that the animals can sometimes be disturbed from a daytime sleep, and a severe disturbance may cause a nocturnal flying creature to take flight in daylight, when humans are much more likely to notice them. (Only once do I recall seeing a wild owl. It was flying over a freeway near Long Beach, California, in daylight. Most owls are nocturnal, but people rarely notice and recognize them in the dark.)

If anyone else has seen an apparent pterosaur in the San Diego area, please contact me, Jonathan Whitcomb.

Books about live pterosaurs in North America

It seems we now have three nonfiction books about extant pterosaurs in North America, so let’s take a look at some basic facts (before I insert an ad for my own book). These paperback books are Big Bird (by Ken Gerhard), Live Pterosaurs in America (by Jonathan Whitcomb, third edition), and Bird From Hell (by Gerald McIsaac, second edition).

Pterodactyls in San Diego

According to one of the two eyewitnesses of the large flying creatures, they had long tails and wingspans around 20-30 feet, as they flew only about a hundred feet above San Diego, California, in November of 2011. The tails were long and straight.

Hoax Potential and Pterosaur Wingspan

It appears perfectly harmonious with the idea that at least most modern species experience growth throughout lifespan, with extremely large individuals being rare. The degree of rarity should be much greater than shown, for the largest modern pterosaurs should be noticed by eyewitnesses much more frequently than smaller ones; small pterosaurs can easily be ignored, for they often are not noticed as anything unusual enough to cause eyewitnesses to take a closer look and see that it is no bird.

Jonathan Whitcomb is a pterosaur expert, not in the sense of knowing many details about fossils: He interviews eyewitnesses of apparent modern pterosaurs that are observed around the world.

How can the nonfiction cryptozoology book Live Pterosaurs in America be related to Paulo Coelho’s worldwide best-selling allegorical fiction The Alchemist? Certainly not in book sales, and it’s not a direct relationship; it’s in what Coelho calls a “personal calling.” I don’t want to give away an important surprise for those who have not yet read The Alchemist, but it’s in how something in a shepherd boy’s quest resembles something in the history of living-pterosaur investigations since the late twentieth century (traveling back and forth, literally).

The Alchemist (a different kind of relationship between the two books)

Before Januaruy 17, 2012, the Wikipedia page on The Alchemist said, “It has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 150 countries.” On that day, Jonathan Whitcomb, a volunteer Wikipedia editor and author of the nonfiction book Live Pterosaurs in America, noticed that figure on book sales of The Alchemist. He had just finished reading the book, delighting in its message and delivery, but the “65 million” reminded him of two things.

The back cover of the English paperback that Whitcomb had just read referred to the number of copies sold of all the books by Paulo Coelho, not just The Alchemist. It was “more than 65 million copies in 150 countries.” It looked like too much for a coincidence . . .

Sixty-Five Million

Coelho’s own web page reveals that twenty-one million copies had been sold worldwide. I believe that the back cover of the paperback I had read was correct, that the “sixty-five million” was the total number of sales of all Coelho’s novels (not just this one short novel) up until that paperback printing of the English version of The Alchemist (a few years ago). . . .

On rare occasions I edit Wikipedia pages, and on January 17, 2012, I edited The Alchemist page, to correct that mistake. So why think of it? To most ordinary persons, who will never sell any millions of anything or be famous for anything, twenty-one million seems practically the same as sixty-five million. The problem lies in casual thinking: Too many of us rely on others to think for us, and we do so too often, too much, and in matters too important.

Jonathan Whitcomb is a pterosaur expert in the sense that he compiles data from eyewitness reports of apparent pterosaurs that are observed in many countries of the world.

Cryptozoology Books

Yesterday my friend and associate Garth Guessman called me about the nonfiction book Bird From Hell, by Gerald McIsaac, now in the second edition; I had never heard of it. It seems we now have three nonfiction books about extant pterosaurs in North America, so let’s take a look at some basic facts (before I insert an ad for my own book). These paperback books, in cryptozoology genre, are Big Bird (by Ken Gerhard), Live Pterosaurs in America (by Jonathan Whitcomb, third edition), and Bird From Hell (by Gerald McIsaac, second edition). The first comparison surprised me.

Basic Exposure Online

This test was done by using a Google search with each book’s title in quotes, followed by the surname of the author. Gerhard’s book seems to have much better exposure on the internet, compared with the other two, and it seems to have little to do with the “Big Bird” of Sesame Street.

1. Big Bird                            295,000
2. Bird From Hell                     25,300
3. Live Pterosaurs in America   20,200

This has little, if any, relevance to the books themselves, just how broadly they are covered online.

Amazon sales ranking on January 9, 2012

These were sampled early in the day. A one-day ranking has limited relevance if books are selling reasonably well recently, but none of these three have sold on Amazon recently. This Amazon number refers to ranking, not to number of copies sold, unfortunately (author’s want a low score here, like in golf). McIsaac’s book has not sold on Amazon.com (paperback version) in many days, perhaps many weeks. I would keep in mind that earlier editions can take sales away from the latest editions of a book; I have noticed this with my book. If this were taken into account, Live Pterosaurs in America (with three editions) would probably be the best-selling of these three, on Amazon.

1. Big Bird #1,051,985
2. Live Pterosaurs in America #1,120,918
3. Bird From Hell  #4,802,158

Number of Pages

My book is the clear winner here.

1. Live Pterosaurs in America  154 pages
2. Bird From Hell  124 pages
3. Big Bird  108 pages

Publication Date

1. Live Pterosaurs in America – Nov 2, 2011
2. Bird From Hell – April 21, 2011
3. Big Bird – February 1, 2007

Present Sale Price on Amazon (on January 9, 2012)

This is the sales price, not the suggested retail price (SRP). Authors have limited control here, if any. Names are abbreviated.

1. LPA – $9.82
2. BFH – $11.04
3. BB – $11.75

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From two of the unsolicited recommendations for this cryptozoology book:

“I couldn’t put this book down. It is absolutely fascinating to read about eyewitness accounts of the people who have seen these creatures. To learn about these testimonies from such an open minded perspective is refreshing in the extreme! . . . Jonathan Whitcomb needs to write more books!” (From StrangeDream, second edition; review published on Amazon on Oct 11, 2011)

“This seems to be the author’s second book on the subject, and this one is worth the effort. He has focused on the accounts of witnesses who saw something, and that adds credibility. The writing is easy to read and he adds comments and analysis to make it all more useful. Mostly, the author lets the sightings speak for themselves, which is good. A worthwhile book.” (From Red Rabbit, first edition; review published on Amazon on Nov 26, 2010)