Username: Pocketdog9
Theme: Day 4 - Birds of Winter
Species: Mississippi Kite (
Ictinia mississippiensis)
Entry Type: Lore/Writing
Comment (Optional): The Mississippi Kite is a migratory bird of prey that overwinters in South America (though their exact winter range is still a mystery) and can be found in the United States and Mexico during breeding and migration, respectively. Expansion of urban and suburban areas by humans, and especially the planting of trees, have played a part in increasing their range outside of heavily-wooded habitat. Groups of them can be seen flycatching--catching insects on the wing, exactly what it sounds like--above the treetops and dive-bombing intruders that wander too close to the nest!
Entry:
https://flightrising.com/main.php?p=lair&id=467595&tab=dragon&did=52025087
Maovesai grew up hating birds.
Although hate is a strong word, truly; it’s even a bit much for the beautifully expressive Fae, who despite their monotone verbiage lived colorfully emotional lives. But it does the job for a former member of a clan who disliked the birds that directly competed with them for insect prey. It never extended to much, in practice--for as devotees of the Gladekeeper, even that wildlife which directly challenged the Fae hive was still sacred and important--but a small sect maintained the belief that they, in their flight’s service, were duty-bound to devour each and every pest that flew from the Scarred Wasteland. Their avian cousins lacked the honor and magical charge to do so effectively, or so they thought.
The order never lasted long, but the impact it made warranted reflection.
The petals were falling off the tree, dusted away by the late summer winds when everything grew too hot and too dry. The Napeveria Hive buzzed with activity. Sap glinted like spun gold in the afternoon, and glittered like melted honey when the late-evening lanterns surged to life like lightning bugs and glowworms, and summer heat haze danced on the river below. A young green-and-violet Fae flitted about excitedly, frills and wings wide. Others were excitedly chattering, sticking invertebrates of all of Nature’s makes and models into gooey spots of sap.
Several crests turned warning colors as the scent of Plague wafted into the colony’s main chamber; an invertebrate plague followed less than thirty flights behind. The room was quickly fouling. The young Fae watched in awe while adults in beak-shaped masks and wooden armor assembled and leapt for the skies, dancing in the nightlight, feasting to the tune of thousands of disease-ridden invaders.
And a tiny mosquito, undetected by the hive’s defenders, settled in on a stump of a branch just inside the nest entryway. The younger Maovesai promptly ate it.
But birds met with dragons in the most fantastic of ways, in something few other creatures could dream of--wings. And while the Napetul Clan’s matriarch still didn’t see much in the way they flew…
She didn’t mind the way her clanmates did.
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The delegation from the Napetul Clan was one of the last to head out, preceded mostly by enthusiastic ornithologists and dragons who had grown up with birds all around them. Their de-facto leader crunched down a particularly tasty fly (which she was sure likely earned the ire of a certain young Mirror who had been excitedly chasing it), and flapped into a stand of trees. Her adept, one of her first adoptions, following in her stead, made her way alongside the female Fae.
“We’re specifically looking for birds today. As such, stay clear of any possible flight paths.”
The Ridgeback and other dragons in their party behind the pair made clear their assent.
The ragtag family didn’t have to hunt long--despite their late departure--until the youngest clanmate caught a flash of gray and white in the blue sky, which in short order led to a flock of flycatching warm-blooded avians. The dragons kept to the ground and watched, astonished; the birds circled and swept and scissored through the fragrant air.
They flew like kites against the green and blue.
Mississippi Kites? Maovesai could go along with that.
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