Located in the northeastern corner of Magwood Park across from 2 Varsity Road, Thunderbird Mound is possibly a human-made geographical structure and burial site dating to between c. 1500 BCE and 500 CE. It was registered on the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries' Archaeological Sites Database in 2008 by AMICK Archaeological Consultants Limited (view a copy of the report here). Nonetheless, there is dispute about Thunderbird Mound's authenticity as a human-made formation and grave site due to a lack of in-depth archaeological evaluation. 

It is possible that the mound was constructed in intermittent layers by generations of several different local Indigenous peoples in the Early or Middle Woodland periods, including the Adena, the Hopewell, or other ancestors of the Wendat. Thunderbird Mound is home to many ancient deciduous trees, including large red oaks, white oaks, beeches, black ashes, and one large yellow birch, whose broad root systems help hold the slope in place.

Thunderbird Mound currently lacks public signage, documentation, or any on-site recognition of its significance. This is possibly due to the relative lack of publicly available information about the site and to the absence of a comprehensive archaeological evaluation detailing its potential attributes as a burial mound. At present, pedestrians often climb and tread on the mound causing erosion.

(Research and text by Alessandro Tersigni.)