Diving Heron

Diving Herons are large water-feeding birds, standing five feet tall with mottled plumage of reddish-brown and grey atop long thin legs. Their beaks are long, and extremely sharp, and like all herons they fly with necks folded back.

Diving herons are native to the forest rivers of the Eastern Threshold, particularly the Northeast. Their diet consists mostly of fish caught in rivers, and unlike most herons they spend their time perched in tree branches before descending quickly to snatch up their prey, often taking one or more fish before carrying it back up to the branches where it can be eaten. This means they are capable, controlled flyers, and in the Haltan Republic Diving Cranes are trained to make up the vast majority of messenger birds, capable of carrying packets of up to five pounds, albeit with some difficulty. They are also popular in Halta as fishing birds, regurgitating caught fish to their handlers so it can be sent to market (in a manner similar to the use of Cormorants elsewhere).

According to the Haltans, many Diving Herons are san-beasts, though only a few are ata-beasts of human-equivalent intelligence. These often serve with distinction in the Haltan Commandos, equipped with special ‘beak-blades’ that they wield in diving to strike terrible blows upon their enemies before flying back out of reach.