Thunderbird

I Have been trying for some time to get a picture of an American swallowtail kite. Today as I was trying to finish up photographing around 50 horses for the web-site of a two year old racehorse consignor, this amazing bird flew over, high in the sky. I did not have the right lens to even attempt a shot , but I did anyway, I think these birds are truly magical and have great importance in American Indian culture. I would love to get a better picture of ne of these magnificent black and white raptors.

'Black Hawk' is a widespread Indian term for certain kinds of raptorial birds, although the term cannot be found in an English dictionary. Joseph LaMère of the Bear Clan, said that this bird is the Black Swallow-tail Kite (Nauclerus forficatus), now known as the American Swallow-tail Kite (Elanoides forficatus) It is the most aerobatic and graceful of all birds, as it seldom flies in a straight line, but inscribes graceful turns and dips as if showing off its skill. It feeds mainly on insects, lizards, snakes, and other reptiles, but never attacks small birds. To observant people, this remarkable bird might well have a special association with thunderstorms. It never travels in a straight line and is altogether absent in the winter. It is little wonder then, that the chief of all the Thunders is Great Black Hawk. He possesses the powerful Thunderbird Warclub, the slightest shaking of which will lead to terrible thunder. That Thunderbirds generally are said to be bald in their anthropomorphic guise, is probably due to more than the fortunate assonance between 'capara', 'baldheaded', and j?para, 'lightning'.

It is clear now that it is not the Bald Eagle which served as the model for the great Thunderbird, but the bird that naive people have been known to confuse with it, the American Swallow-tail Kite, also known as the Black Hawk. In the great Creation Council held to establish the Hocak clans, the leader known as 'Black Hawk' was a terrestrial counterpart to Great Black Hawk. When Black Hawk died, since he was the first of all humans to succumb to death, he became chief over the spirit realm of the Thunderbird Clan.