Early drawings depict it as part bird, reptile, mammal, and fish.
Marquette and Joliet recorded in their diaries a description of an image of this creature incised into the limestone bluffs 40 to 50 feet above the water near their historic landing site at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. This image was later painted, and has been relocated several times. Today a painting of the Piasa Bird can be seen on the bluffs near Alton, Illinois. The most enduring and fascinating legend about this bird was written by John Russell in 1836. Before the village of the Illini, the mighty river swept to the south, clear and fresh.