A Philadelphia, PA witness contacted me about his sighting of a large winged creature that he observed in the Gladwyne area. The description of the creature suggests that it was a Pterosaur.

I received the following account:

"Hello, Mr. Strickler. This is Tom from Philadelphia. We spoke on the phone and I gave you my account of the "Pterosaur" that I spotted flying over an area of Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. I enjoyed our conversation. You asked me to e-mail my account to you so here it is again:

I do landscaping work in the area of Gladwyn. The properties there are very large with lots of space between big houses. It is mostly a vast wooded area. My fellow worker and I had finished eating lunch on the front steps of the house and I went back down to the street (Country Club Lane) to put our leftovers into the car. I saw a strange dinosaur/birdlike creature flying above. At first, it was silhouetted against the sky but I clearly saw a long skinny tail that ended in an outcropping. Silhouetted as it was, I described this outcropping, at the time, as a knob or bulbous shape at the end of the tail. The tail trailed behind the creature as it flew. It then was obscured by some trees but I continued to watch its projected path. It was pretty much traveling in a straight line. It re-emerged on the other side of the trees and I again saw the long tail with the "knob" on the end. Then, at one point, it caught the light in such a way that it was no longer silhouetted. The sun must have come out from some clouds. As it traveled away to my left I saw its dorsal side. It was a somewhat tan or golden color, and, because it was such a uniform color, it appeared not necessarily to have feathers but possibly just skin or maybe very small scales.

I told Stephen, my coworker, that I thought I saw a pterodactyl. At the time I didn't know the difference between a pterodactyl and other pterosaurs. I found out later that Pterodactyls don't have tails like what I saw. When I described the tail to Stephen, he said, "You mean something like a lion's tail." I realized that he described it very well with those words.

The next night I did a search on the computer for "birds that look like pterodactyls". I found out then that the pterodactyl doesn't have a long tail like the creature I saw. I found four flying reptile dinosaurs, or pterosaurs, all of which looked surprisingly like what I saw. They are described as being in about the same size range, too. I would guess the wing span was about four feet but I can only guess at that since, when something is up in the sky, it's hard to reference it to other objects. The four pterosaurs that resemble the creature I saw are the rhamphorhinchus, eudimorphodon, scaphognathus and the dimorphodon. The last of these is only speculated to have the "knob" at the end of the tail although no fossils have actually been found with it. The other three are known to have the outcropping. The outcropping, in any of these, is actually a diamond-shaped flap called a "vane".

I found that there have been many sightings of possible pterosaurs. Some people describe them as a large bat-like creature (not everyone mentions a long tail - the actual pterodactyl, again, did not have a long tail). The pterosaurs that I named, and the ones that have been sighted by others, are bat-like in that they don't have feathers and they have hands at the bend of the wing. They are NOT bat-like in that they do not flap their wings quickly but have more of a gliding motion to their flight (like my creature). I have to be honest in saying that I did not see hands or fingers but there was so much for me to observe in a fairly short amount of time that I mostly noticed the tail. The shape of the head also escapes me now if I should have to describe it. My very first impression, the moment I spotted it, was not so much that it was a bat or bird but rather a birdlike dinosaur.

I feel so strongly about what I have seen that I sense that I should report it to somebody, somewhere. I am glad that I have been able to put this in writing while the incident is still fresh. I am happy to have this information shared with anyone. If someone has another explanation (other than that I saw a pterosaur) I will gladly listen. If there is a large bird in the Gladwyn area with a tail like that, etc., I will consider myself informed and not argue. So far, my research doesn't indicate that but I'm not a bird expert, etc.

Thanks, so much, for listening and for your encouragement. I wish you all the best with all that you are doing. Sincerely, TD"

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