Alabaster Seabird

Alabaster Seabird The Alabaster Seabird is a common variety of bird found almost everywhere around Anthos. Due to training simpleness (especially when the seabird is only a fledgling), many denizens of this Realm use this bird for a messenger bird.

Description The Alabaster Seabird is very large, and very old, seafaring bird. Weighing in at an average of 30 pounds, and equipped with a stunning 17 foot wingspan, it is easily one of the largest flighted birds in the world. Its beak is quite unusual. It is blunt and thick, with growths on the inside of the bill that form pseudo-teeth. Though it's wingspan is wide, it's legs are short, stubby things with webbed feet, for paddling in the open ocean. Its feathers bear a notable oily coat that allow it to safely dive into the water for brief periods of time. They live for about 10 years in the wild, but can easily live to 30 in captivity.

Characteristics The Alabaster Seabird in flight over an ocean. The Alabaster Seabird in flight over an ocean. Speed and Intelligence Alabaster Seabirds are by no means a fast; their large wings may grant them lofty heights in the air, but it greatly restricts their speed. More often than not, they are more content to glide in the air, rather than flap about wildly.

These seabirds are amazingly intelligent, insofar as a bird can go. Though they might have no proper sense of smell, it often can identify one from another easily with its eyes alone. Another thing of note is that they are quite noisome. They have a tendency to squawk regularly, especially at new things. It can become nearly unbearable for new trainers to handle.

Temperment and Training Despite it's size and intelligence, this Seabird is, quite curiously, a cowardly animal. Mostly, this is because it is absolutely useless in combat, it's barbed beak good for little more then catching fish. Another reason, however, is its personality. The Alabaster Seabird is often called the High Elf of birds. Put simply, they loathe new things. Even whilst possessing profound intelligence for a bird, the alabaster seabird is hindered by a remarkable and utter lack of curiosity concerning anything and everything that doesn't, at some point, involve a fish.

It is for this reason that training an adult seabird is an impossible task. An adult seabird, if approached with food, fish or otherwise, will invariably refuse the the meal, even if on the brink of death from starvation. A hatchling, however, is remarkably easy to train, even for novice falconers. Once it pieces together that finding a certain person will reward it with fish, the training process becomes naturally easy, and it can make it an ideal bird for sending messages between two people, so long as the falconer has fish, naturally.

Seabirds, unlike most other birds, have next to no sense of smell. Instead of sniffing their recipient out whilst delivering messages, the alabaster seabird will typically resort to using their profoundly good memory and sight to identify a recipient by face. It can be ordered to look for a specific person in a specific area, and if this person and the place he is located coincide, it can search that area for the person.

Finalities and Nesting While smart for a bird, it is unfortunately not smart enough to understand a brief description of a person, and normally will have to be shown the person first before it cab actually fit them to a name. Creating a roost for a bird is easy, so long as you have the room to create a nest for him. Alabaster seabirds will attempt to create a nest, it's a natural trait that will cause it to reject and possibly even die in most conventional cages.

Hunting As you might expect, the seabird is very clearly a water fowl made for hunting fish in the ocean. Having quite the keen eyesight, the alabaster seabird typically hunts by spotting fish near the ocean's surface whilst in the air, tucking itself into a dive and crashes into it, using it's pseudo-teeth to grip the prey as it plunges headfirst into the water. It is quite a theatrical sight to behold.

Natural Nesting and Roosting Alabaster Seabirds may hunt in the ocean, but are known for making their nests far inland, typically in sheer areas, such as mountains and cliffs. Nonexistent Biologists theorize that the thin air in these precarious places is why the Seabird's wing span is so long. They lay their eggs on these rocky slopes as well, to improve their offspring's chances of survival on their first flight. Nests made by the alabaster seabird are unmistakable from afar, as they are quite massive, and require very specific conditions in which they can be built.

Seabirds will nest every summer, when the mountains are the warmest. Mates are typically met while hunting. Once a suitable one is found, they will travel back to the nest for mating. In accordance with their rather unchanging attitude, Seabirds mate for life, and will repeat this process together every summer, in the same nest, for the rest of their lives.

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