Waterbirds#

One family of Wild Animals: 17 animals, levels 1 to 9. Reading the tables says what each column means.

Herons, geese, ducks, pelicans and the birds of the shore.

Animal	Level	Health	AC	Bite	Group	Tame	Worth	Lives in
Belted Kingfishertiny · weakA blue-gray bird with a shaggy crest and a white collar, perched over still water and waiting. It drops headfirst after fish along the beaches and ponds of Menusia and Amari and rattles like a dry gourd when disturbed. Small, quick and very hard to hit.	1	3	12	1d4	1-4	DC 5	10
Black-Headed Heronsmall · weakA gray heron with a black head and neck that hunts in dry grass as often as in water, spearing rats, lizards and frogs. It is found across the grasslands and marshes of Sedia.	3	14	4	1d4	1-3	DC 3	20
Green Heronsmall · weakA small, dark heron that crouches on low branches over water and sometimes drops a crumb or a feather on the surface to lure fish in. It is found along streams and ponds all over Sedia.	3	14	4	1d4	1	DC 5	15
Red-Bearded Goosetiny · weakA brown goose with a rust-red wattle hanging under its bill, grazing the shorelines and water meadows of Menusia and Amari. Like every goose it’s braver than it is big, and it hisses at anything that comes near the flock.	3	18	5	1d4	1	DC 5	10
White-Winged Wood Ducktiny · weakA big dark duck with a pale head and white wing patches that feeds on the ponds, deltas and shores of Menusia and Amari. It’s shy, whistles as it flies and roosts in trees, which surprises people. The meat is good.	3	18	5	1d4	1	DC 5	10
White Pelicanmedium · weakA great white bird with black wingtips and an orange bill pouch that fishes in flocks along the shores of Amari and Menusia and the cold coasts of New Saellem. The flock herds fish into the shallows together, then scoops. On land it waddles; in the air it is a different animal.	4	20	4	1d4	2-4	DC 6	25
Brown-Winged Kingfishersmall · weakA big kingfisher with a heavy red bill, an orange body and brown wings, fishing the mudflats and deltas of Menusia and Amari. It’s loud, fast and hard to hit, and it chases much bigger birds off its stretch of shore.	5	16	14	1d4	1-2	DC 4	10
Great Blue Heronsmall · weakA tall gray-blue heron that stands motionless in the shallows until something moves. It is common along marshes, ponds and rivers all over Sedia. Its stab is quick and aimed at the eye, so keep your face back if you try to handle one.	5	16	3	1d4	1	DC 3	30
Greater White-Fronted Goosesmall · weakA brown goose with a white blaze at the base of its bill that flies in long, noisy wedges between the northern marshes and the warm coasts of Amari and Menusia. It grazes in flocks and honks at everything. Easy to tame and decent eating.	5	16	4	1d4	2-6	DC 5	20
Sandpipersmall · weakA long-legged brown wader that runs ahead of you in short bursts, stopping to look back. Sandpipers nest on the open prairie and moors of Crecia and Amari and fake a broken wing to draw strangers away from their eggs. Follow one and you’ll walk a long way for nothing.	5	16	5	1d4	1	DC 4	15
Snowy Egretsmall · weakA small white heron with black legs and bright yellow feet, oddly at home in the cold high country of Jewall and New Saellem, where it fishes the snowmelt streams. It stirs the water with its yellow feet to flush fish out from under the stones.	5	16	4	1d4	1	DC 5	15
White-Winged Ducksmall · weakA dark duck with a white wing patch, the white-winged duck nests in tree hollows in the forests of Esthar and Tharsis rather than on open water. It’s shy and flies low between the trunks. Fowlers count it a prize.	5	16	4	1d2	1	DC 4	15
Marbled Murreletsmall · weakA stubby seabird, mottled brown like wet bark, that fishes open water and flies inland to nest. On Sedia it turns up in the fens of Tharsis and the mangroves of Menusia, whirring low and fast. Nobody has ever found one of its nests, and some trappers have spent years trying.	5	17	5	1d4	1	DC 5	65
Penguinmedium · weakA black and white seabird that can’t fly and swims like a fish. Penguins gather in noisy colonies on the arctic tundra of New Saellem, where the shore freezes solid. They waddle up to strangers out of curiosity, and that’s about the only danger anyone faces from them.	5	21	4	1d4	3-6	DC 6	15
Wood Ducksmall · weakA small duck that nests in tree hollows near water, the drake painted green and chestnut. The ducklings jump from the nest to the ground the day after they hatch. It is common on ponds and estuaries along the southern coasts.	6	18	5	1d4	1-2	DC 5	10
Flamingomedium · regularA tall pink wading bird that feeds head-down in the ponds and estuaries of Menusia and Amari. Flamingos crowd together and honk constantly. The pink comes from the shrimp they eat; feed a tamed one on grain and it fades to white.	8	25	5	1d6	1-3	DC 2	60
Wood Storkmedium · weakA tall white stork with a bald gray head and a heavy bill, wading through flooded forest pools in Tharsis and Esthar. It feeds by feel and snaps its bill shut on anything that touches it, fingers included. The rest of the time it ignores people completely.	9	26	6	1d4	1-2	DC 7	15