Medicine Birds

photo courtesy of Field Guide to Birds of North America, ( www. whatbird.wildbird.com )

edicinephoto courtesy of Field Guide to Birds of North America, ( www. whatbird.wildbird.com )

Medicine birds respected for their persistence and power draw things out of places, Toski ( woodpecker in Muscogee) have an esteemed place in the Southeastern Native traditions. Birds in general are favored heralds in that they bring the changing of the seasons. They signal the cold of the winter and wake the plants up in the springtime. Up until recent times it was thought that this bird was extinct. When you hear the knocking sound of toski in the woods you can understand why they are thought to pull things out of hiding.