Has anyone heard of a native American legend called a thunder bird?
To the Dakotas, the Thunder Bird is the form taken by the god Wakonda (Some of my sources mix terms from Native American languages, so my apologies on that, folks), who is the opposite of the trickster god Unktomi. There is a tale of the giant thunderbird, Wakinyan Tanka, telling of a great battle between the Thunderbird and his children, and the water monster Unktehi and her children in the collection “American Indian Myths and Legends.” To quote from the Thunderbird (Mythology) reference cited below: “Merriam’s teratorn Some cryptozoologists first theorized that the thunderbird myth is based on sightings of a real animal. Regarding the question whether such a large bird could have flown at all, the prehistoric vulture-like Aiolornis incredibilis (previously known as Teratornis) which was described in 1909 had a wingspan of around 5 m (16 ft) and was capable of flight, but probably would have favored heavy winds to facilitate takeoff. This bird, however, was almost certainly never see
