In Native American mythology, the Thunderbird is the giant bird said to create thunder by flapping its wings.
Thunderbird traditions occur among Indigenous peoples across North America, including Algonquian, Iroquois, Great Lakes, Plains, and Pacific Northwest cultures. The figure is usually a supernatural bird or powerful bird-like spirit associated with storms, protection, strength, and the upper world. In some Algonquian accounts, its wingbeats produce thunder, while flashes from its eyes or other supernatural actions create lightning.
The Thunderbird is not one single standardized character. Stories differ by nation, and some traditions describe it battling underwater spirits, giant snakes, or other forces linked with chaos. In Northwest Coast art, it appears prominently in carvings, painted designs, and totemic imagery; elsewhere it may be represented by a distinctive forward-facing, X-shaped form.
A common mix-up is treating the Thunderbird as simply a giant undiscovered bird or as the same creature as the Roc. The Roc belongs to Middle Eastern and later literary traditions, while Thunderbird is rooted in diverse Indigenous North American religious and cultural traditions. Archaeological depictions of thunderbird-like figures in North America date back thousands of years.