Thunderbird

The thunderbird is a mythological bird-like spirit in the stories of many Indigenous peoples of North America. It is seen as a powerful being of the sky, and it appears in the art, songs and oral histories of Pacific Northwest Coast peoples and in stories from the Great Lakes, Great Plains and other regions.

This is a legend, not an animal. In many tellings the thunderbird makes thunder by flapping its wings and lightning by flashing its eyes. It is often a protector that expects respect and gifts. On the Pacific coast, it is carved with outspread wings at the top of totem poles, such as those in Victoria's Thunderbird Park.

What the stories say

Details change from one people to another. In Algonquian stories the thunderbird rules the upper world and hurls lightning at underwater creatures like the great horned serpent. In Ojibwe tradition, Nanabozho made thunderbirds to fight underwater spirits, and in Menominee stories they live on a floating mountain in the west. In the Pacific Northwest tales, the card says the Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth tell how Thunderbird hunts whales with Lightning Serpent as its harpoon.

Legend and what scientists say

No real animal matches the thunderbird, and nothing says such a giant bird exists. Some researchers wonder whether the Thunderbird-and-Whale story on the Pacific coast might remember the great Cascadia earthquake and tsunami of the year 1700, which also sent a wave to Japan. This is only an idea. Pictures of thunderbirds carved in rock, found in Wisconsin, are thousands of years old. To many families and nations, the thunderbird is an honoured crest.

On the globe

The model shows a carved thunderbird with outspread wings, like those on totem poles. This is a legend.