Thunderbird spotted!

You know.. many of the names in my tribe revolve around the sacred thunderbird and yet I had never really learned much about it. It was not a story I was ever told by the elders. I admit my access to the tribal elders was limited but this was not one of the stories I was made aware of.

It was not until I went online to research this strange enormous bird that I NEARLY HIT with my vehichle on the way home the other day that I realized that what I had seen was not only a sacred bird but also directly related to my very own tribe.

This happened just last week. I was driving home from the grocery it was early morning and I was in a hurry so my hubby wouldn't be late for work and this huge black form appeared from the left side of the road and was attempting to get itself back up higher again... it was not far in front of me and I had to slow down to avoid hitting it as it flew low and directly in front of me.. and was rising very slowly.. the other reason being it was so enormous it blocked out visibility of everything else all I could see was its immense wings in my windshield view I could actually hear the enormous whooshing sound they made because they were so massive it seemed as the bird would never get up into full flight. Inititally I thought what the hell? followed by my god that thing is massive. then what the hell kind of bird is that? then oh crap I don't want to hit it I hope it gets up soon.. I kept slowing down to make sure I didn't hit it and willing it to get itself airborn so I wouldn't have to worry about the poor thing anymore. after it got up I was initially overwhelmed with just being grateful it got up in time and then wondered where it went. I could not spot it after it got airborn. I do not know if it flew behind me or what. I never saw the head most all I could see was its wings because until it got up.. all I could see was this massive form with huge wings trying to get itself higher up.

I went home and told my husband about it.. he thought it was a vulture but I swear this thing had feathers .. enormous black feathers like a raven.

After realizing that this bird is sacred among my people I feel honored to have seen it firsthand and extremely grateful I was able to slow down in time to NOT hit it.

I am in still in awe of it. Has anyone else seen one of these rare majestic birds?




[edit on 7-6-2008 by NephraTari]

Where were you driving? Location I mean. Country, State, etc.

Ravens are very large birds.

Much bigger then crows...about the size of a small Eagle.

They are very very smart.

Common Ravens have been observed to manipulate others into doing work for them, such as by calling wolves and coyotes to the site of dead animals

In recent years, biologists have begun to recognize that birds engage in play.

They have vocalization. I have fed Ravens bread and such when I was a boy and I disticly remember one that came up to my waste...his beak came up to my waist. I was about 14. About 5 feet at the time. Think about that. To be honest, when I think about this bird I sometimes wonder if I misjudged the size somehow. It was very freaky.

I have not seen one that large since.

Originally posted by AgentScmidt
Where were you driving? Location I mean. Country, State, etc.

Oklahoma United States


[edit on 7-6-2008 by NephraTari]

reply to post by NephraTari


Oklahama...

Well, if it wasn't a Thunderbird, it's likely to be a Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, or Golden Eagle. All of this birds have on average a 7ft wingspan, which is larger than a grown man, with the Golden Eagle's sometimes going close to 8ft. I'm leaning towards Black Vulture or Golden Eagle since they fit your description closer, especially Black Vulture since it's an odd looking bird and might be confused for a mythical beast.

It could have even been a regular old Turkey, I had one fly over my car once. It was an amazing sight.

Here is a list of birds that populate Oklahoma
en.wikipedia.org...

ty for the link

none of those birds are quite as massive as what I saw. This bird was so large its body was larger than could be viewed through the windshield of my SUV.

I could only see the bottom half of the bird. it was not just wingspan that was enormous it was the sheer mass of body as well.

Some of those birds are big.. but none that would fit what I saw.

Originally posted by NephraTari
This happened just last week.
all I could see was its immense wings in my windshield view I could actually hear the enormous whooshing sound they made because they were so massive it seemed as the bird would never get up into full flight.
[edit on 7-6-2008 by NephraTari]

Did you experience that after you were enlightened by Cliff Stone?

reply to post by NephraTari


Well, maybe you did see a T-Bird. Are you a medicine woman?

Are you Chickasaw? Choctaw? Creek? Seminole? Cherokee?

On the other hand I have seen young Bald Eagles that were black. I had some dive at me while in my canoe.

Golden Eagles are or can be black as well. They are very large. I climbed a cliff in Southern Saskatchewan once trying to figure out what they were when I was much younger. This was near the Frenchman River on the West side of the badlands where Crazy Horse would sometimes retreat too.

Originally posted by whiteraven
reply to post by NephraTari

 

Well, maybe you did see a T-Bird. Are you a medicine woman?

Are you Chickasaw? Choctaw? Creek? Seminole? Cherokee?

Ho-Chunk formerly referred to as Winnebago.

The list on that link is not to complete. Actually the Pelican is as large as you describe and so is the first bird below, which is a Great Blue Heron. I'm Including some vultures in case they ring a bell.












The day I took the Heron picture we had Turkey Vultures fly right in front of our windshield a number of times and I assure you they are very large and it is a bit unnerving when a couple fly right in front of your face. The vulture in the last picture had me picked out for dinner I believe

reply to post by cheebay


I was enlightened long before Mr.Stone ever set foot on ATS or indeed before I discovered ATS. My life has been filled with unusual events from the time I was 4 years old. Which is why I take so much in stride. I am quite used to the unusual happening in my life.

Ok. So you are a desendant of the Raven's then.

I heard of the Oral history of your people. A great Chief saw a flock of Raven's who where brightly coloured. They turned into humans..they were naked and the Great Chief ordered for the Raven people to be clothed.

I think that is part of your tradition.

A Thunderbird starts the rain and delivers a message to other spirits.

reply to post by whiteraven


Yes that is one of the stories I have recently discovered about my people.

If nothing else this has made me more aware of the origins of my tribe.

A thunderbird in oklahoma? that you saw as soon as you started researching them a little fishy, usually thunderbirds seem to be associated with south america sooooo, a little fishy

Originally posted by LetsTouch
A thunderbird in oklahoma?

that you saw as soon as you started researching them

a little fishy, usually thunderbirds seem to be associated with south america sooooo, a little fishy

No you misread. I saw this thing THEN I went online to research what I could have seen. If as you say they are associated only with South America then please explain to me why I have discovered that MY TRIBE has several different stories involving them in our creation and origin legends.

Please don't be rude. If you do not want to believe I have no need to convince you. I am only sharing what I saw for those who may actually want to know about it. There are enough people here on ATS who know and respect me to know I am genuine.

Thanks.

I don't ask you to believe.. that choice is your own. I am just sharing my experience.

When you judged the body size of the bird against your windshield, was it so close that it almost hit the windshield?


One small thing to keep in mind is that birds always try to take off into the wind . . .which is the reason they will fly into the path of a car traveling at a hard to judge high speed as they do during highway travel.

That could be part of the reason the bird was having a hard time lifting off.
It was trying to avoid your car and perhaps could not make use of a headwind - assuming there was one.

Both the California Condor and South American Condor came to mind while I was reading your experience.
Oklahoma is quite a ways from the California Condors habitat, but I would not be surprised to find there was one there.

As noted, ravens are quite large and for some reason I feel that's what you saw.


Raven is also a sacred bird to the Inuit is it not?
If I remember right, it's usually on totem poles.

I wonder too if your tribe is related to the Inuits and the Raven legend came along with your tribe if and when you separated.


One of my past experiences with ravens was in the California desert.
We used to hunt jackrabbits in and around a farmers large alfalfa fields.
An almost impossible task to control their numbers, but the farmer was happy to have us try.

There were high voltage tower lines in the area.
Many times when we got out of the pickup, we'd see ravens sitting in the tower watching us.

If we got out with say, binoculars to look the area over, they didn't get excited.
If we exited the pickup with rifle in hand, as soon as they saw it, they flew away.

I've had others tell me similar stories and they noted that if they got out of the truck and pulled a shovel out of the back, the ravens stayed.
If they lifted a shotgun or rifle out of the truck, the ravens flew away.

The thinking was that they could recognize a weapon over a farm tool or stick.

Perhaps so, I always thought they could tune in to the vibes of the moment and determine if they were in danger.


Pretty much the same happens here in the Arizona desert.
We pull rock hounding tools, shovels etc. out of the Jeep and the ravens don't seem to worry about us.
We do carry side-arms in holsters for snake protection, have seen a few, but since they weren't creating a problem we left them alone.

I think next time we're out and see ravens, I'm going to draw the revolver and see what happens.
I don't plan to point it at the ravens, but I'm betting they'll recognize the revolver for what it is and fly away....


[edit on 8-6-2008 by Desert Dawg]

Letstouch...Thunderbirds are from being only in South America.

It would seem you are uneducated concerning the ancient traditions of many tribes.

Thunderbirds are one of the few cross-cultural elements of Native North American mythology. Stories of Thunderbirds are found among the Plains Indians, as well as among Pacific Northwest, the Illini, Ojibwa, and Northeastern Tribes. Thunderbird mythology is found among the Early European Tribes also, but readily apparent traces are masked by later cultures. The Quileute, sometimes spelled Quillayute, is the name of a Native American tribe living along the Quillayute River in the Pacific northwestern state of Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. The following is their version of the Thunderbird legend from stories adapted from Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest by Ella E. Clark, University of California Press, 1958:

www.angelfire.com...







[edit on 8-6-2008 by whiteraven]

reply to post by Desert Dawg

Raven's not only recognize rifles etc they know and recognize people.

Thier brain body ratio is about the same as a human.

Crows are almost as smart......not as smart as a Raven. The very large one I saw when I was a boy was about the size of an small Golden Eagle. I was feeding it bread.

reply to post by NephraTari



The main point of your sighting was not to identify a Thunderbird or not. I would say that the sighn given to you is your ancestors asking you to look into your family background. Find out about not only your cultural roots but also any genetic commonality that you may need to find out about or discover.

The idea of looking at family history with your doctor comes to my spirit...heart...diabetes...heart disease....with you or your children or Grandchildren...

Hope this helps you.


[edit on 8-6-2008 by whiteraven]

reply to post by NephraTari


Out here in the 'handle of Okla. we get visited every year by eagles,both Bald and Golden.

This year we had a very large Golden Eagle and he liked to roost on the windmills. One morning I was out checking the cows, calves and water and this tank was low so I stopped to turn the mill on, Mr. Eagle was sitting up there, I didn't see him , so when I released to brake he took off.

He dropped off of the mill, slapped the air with his wings and I almost had a heart attach. I shook for 15 minuets. In the split second that I glimpsed him he was the size of a Buick. I started taking note of the windmill platform after that.



Roper