The great majority of these stones were carved from black, brown, or dark green slate, with a few examples carved from porphyry. The stone was evidently chipped away to a rough approximation of the finished form and then smoothed to a high polish with sand and other abrasives. A distinctive feature of all bird stones is a pair of conical holes running diagonally through the base.

There have been many theories about the function of bird stones, but none seems to have gained wide acceptance. Bird stones were probably not invested with ritual or ceremonial significance, for they are typically found not in burial mounds but dispersed in fields. The most credible theory is that the stone was used as a weight on a dart- or spear-thrower, or atlatl, a short hooked rod. The atlatl lent the user more speed and power than would be possible if the projectiles were thrown by hand alone. Most bird stones have been found in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario, but others have been discovered in places as far from the Northeast as Georgia, Mississippi, and South Dakota.