gliding overhead.
Their broad wings and habit of soaring without frequent wingbeats can create an imposing silhouette.
Pelicans can also appear enormous, particularly when viewed against an open sky. GoStargazing
Large raptors can look dramatically bigger when they are closer than the observer realizes.
Even a bird that is not exceptionally large can appear gigantic when viewed from below and without a nearby reference point.
Then there is another possibility:
The bird may simply have been an unusual individual.
A particularly large specimen of
