Common Depictions
Across many North American indigenous cultures, the thunderbird carries many of the same characteristics. It is described as a large bird, capable of creating storms and thundering while it flies. Clouds are pulled together by its wingbeats, the sound of thunder made by its wings clapping, sheet lightning the light flashing from its eyes when it blinks, and individual lightning bolts made by the glowing snakes that it carries around with it. In masks, it is depicted as many-colored, with two curling horns, and, often, teeth within its beak. The Native Americans believed that the giant thunderbird could shoot lightning from its eyes.
Origins of the belief may lie in the tendency of large birds to take advantage of the warm updrafts which precede large storms, giving the impression that violent weather followed in their wake.
Read more about this topic: Thunderbird (mythology)
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