Chasing Jabiru? Bring Seymour Sun Herald

A big bird was sighted in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1976. The giant bird made national headlines, but soon faded from the news. However, a 1973 find of a dying Jabiru, the largest wading bird in the New World, near Houston, TX, fit the descriptions of the 1976 sighting. Now 11 Jabirus have been sighted inTexas, Louisiana and Mississippi recently. Could the Jabiru be the cause of "thunderbird" sightings in southern Texas and New Mexico in recent years? Could a bird 5-feet-tall, with a foot-long beak and ten-foot wingspan lead to thunderbird reports?