Menominee Seal of the Menominee Nation featuring a thunderbird In the fall, they migrated south after the end of the underwater spirits' most dangerous season. The thunderbirds lived in the four directions and arrived with the other birds in the springtime. Thunderbirds also punished humans who broke moral rules. The Ojibwe version of the myth states that the thunderbirds were created by Nanabozho to fight the underwater spirits. Ojibwe Ojibwe shoulder pouch depicting two thunderbirds in quillwork, Peabody Museum Harvard Thunderbirds in this tradition may be depicted as a spreadeagled bird (wings horizontal head in profile), but also quite common with the head facing forward, thus presenting an X-shaped appearance overall (see under §Iconography below). The thunderbird creates not just thunder (with its wing-flapping) but lightning bolts, which it casts at the underworld creatures. In Algonquian mythology, the thunderbird controls the upper world while the underworld is governed by the underwater panther or Great Horned Serpent. Midwest states (e.g., Ojibwe in Minnesota ). The discussion of the Northeast region has included Algonquian-speaking people in the Lakes-bordering U.S. The thunderbird myth and motif is prevalent among Algonquian peoples in the Northeast, i.e., Eastern Canada ( Ontario, Quebec, and eastward) and Northeastern United States, and the Iroquois peoples (surrounding the Great Lakes). Tribal signatures using thunderbirds on the Great Peace of Montreal The thunderbird is said to create thunder by flapping its wings (Algonquian ), and lightning by flashing its eyes (Algonquian, Iroquois ). In modern times it has achieved notoriety as a purported cryptid, similar to creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. It is especially important and frequently depicted in the art, songs, and oral histories of many Pacific Northwest Coast cultures, but is also found in various forms among some peoples of the American Southwest, East Coast of the United States, Great Lakes, and Great Plains.

It is considered a supernatural being of power and strength. The thunderbird is a legendary creature in particular North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. Pacific NW ( Haida) imagery of a double thunderbird A Northwest Coast styled Kwakiutl totem pole depicting a thunderbird.

Thunderbird animal sighting