# Any update on the giant Alaskan bird spotted earlier this summer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049 "2002-12-06T23:31:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/1 "2002-12-06T23:31:33Z")
A month or two back I started a thread about news reports of a giant bird spotted in Alaska. The thing that made this story so credible was that the Alaskan witnesses were no newcomers to wildlife/big bird spotting. So have there been any updates to the tale? Beadalin and stuyguy wanna know. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/2 "2002-12-06T23:50:32Z")
Yeah! ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/3 "2002-12-07T00:05:53Z")
I haven’t heard anything. But, then again, I haven’t been looking. Maybe I’ll call US F&WS on Monday. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/4 "2002-12-07T00:37:09Z")
The most recent info I’ve been able to find on the net is from Oct 15-18 - which is when the bird was first allegedly spotted. So it doesn’t appear that any one has seen anything since. ---
**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/5 "2002-12-07T00:43:09Z")
Haven’t heard anything either. FWIW, the originial article on CNN was very bizarre. It had pictures of famous giant birds, which consisted of one actual large bird, Larry Bird, and Big Bird! It made me think the article was some sort of hoax until I saw it elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_The\_Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Buck\_The\_Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_The_Diver)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/6 "2002-12-07T00:53:47Z")
It was delicious! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/7 "2002-12-07T02:52:40Z")
I think the conclusion was that it was simply a very large Stellar’s Sea Eagle. [http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/columns/gordon/z1/10-20-02\_z1\_gord\_1.html](http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/columns/gordon/z1/10-20-02_z1_gord_1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/8 "2002-12-09T15:26:44Z")
Bumping this in case **TheeGrumpy** turns up anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2002, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/9 "2002-12-09T15:43:08Z")
Trouble is with things like this is that it’s probably just misinterpretation of size of an ordinary bird; that being the case, it’s not likely to be repeated, but that in itself doesn’t and cannot disprove anything. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/10 "2002-12-10T00:57:06Z")
Thanks for reminding me, **Beadalin**. Er, maybe tomorrow. I wonder if there’s even a F&W officer on duty at the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2002, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-update-on-the-giant-alaskan-bird-spotted-earlier-this-summer/141049/11 "2002-12-10T22:54:37Z")
U.S. Fish & Wildlife told me today that there have been no further sightings since the two reported earlier. He seemed pretty sold on the Steller’s sea eagle idea, though he noted that such a bird would have changed its migration pattern in order to stick around that area.