Scarreots of the Late Hothouse

Skewers in the late hothouse have diversified across many habitats, diets, and sizes. A diverse clade called the flickbills, which includes the fierce rendrunner, sinister daggerbill, and tiny taptrackers, is among the most varied. These skewers provide the greatest degree of parental care to their larval young, often creating and protecting nests for them in the form of tree hollows or, in open habitats, clay chambers in which they provide food to the larvae until they pupate and fledge.

Most species of skewer seen so far in the hothouse, of this clade and others, have all remained mostly carnivorous. Indeed, the vicious spiked beak of the clade, from which they are named, evolved as a deadly offensive weapon that let their pollinating ancestors become deadly predators. But some late hothouse skewers have evolved down different lines again, using this structure to process different types of food. The flexing, jointed mandible is as close to a new, proper limb as any contemporary bird has evolved (trunko limbs have no bones) - and its uses are varied. Some forest skewers learned to use it to help climb, as a hook to hold branches, and this occasionally brought them into contact with novel food sources like fruit and seed. The beak, by folding backward against itself, could easily break open these things into a soft pulp that could be licked up by the tongue, and some skewers became omnivorous in this way. These birds were the ancestors of a very young yet extraordinarily widespread and specious group of late hothouse birds called scarreots, which are remarkable for now using their once deadly beaks to crack nuts and seeds, and for their diurnal nature and vibrant color in contrast to most of their relatives. 

There are hundreds of species of scarreots, all of which arose within the last ten million years. The most primitive species are relatively large forest-dwellers, and have some resemblance to the related daggerbills. These species are fairly slow-moving and climb much more than they fly, travelling through high branches to collect fruit and large seeds which they smash by closing their robust upper beak's two parts together like a nutcracker; the largest member of this group is flightless, and has specialized its diet to be comprised mostly of vegetation. More divergent forms have arisen however - some which are smaller and stronger flyers, an interesting form of neoteny in which they have more or less stalled their development at a more adolescent life stage similar to the juveniles of their larger relatives, and so remained nimble flyers through adulthood. Many of these species are known as scareakeets, though this is not a taxonomic distinction and purely a classification based on general size. Scareakeets include several only distantly related lineages of scarreots which have evolved similar body shapes with long tails and pointed wings for flying long distances. While many still forage in trees and breed in forests, some have moved into open savannah habitats and feed mainly on the ground, collecting the fallen seeds of grassland plants. In addition, other scarreots have branched off into more divergent niches. Psittacansers are adapted to feed on shelled molluscs rather than seeds, and so are usually associated with water. They include both duck-like swimmers and wading species very distinct from all other scarreot clades.

A variety of scarreot species from across Serina in the late hothouse, 290 million years P.E., are seen above.

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1. Blue-capped Copperkeet (Cupropteryx caerucaputus - blue-headed copper-wing.) This is a species native to the upperglades, which nests in flood forest trees and feeds mainly on the seeds of shoreline grasses and upon small insects, snails, and even algae. Less gregarious than many, it rarely occurs in groups larger than a single pair. Male and female look alike, but differ in calls. Females have soft, peeping voices while males sing to defend territories with noisy chattering which eventually rises into a maniacal laughter-like call, most often at dusk and into the early hours of the night and again at dawn. Blue-capped copperkeets are crepuscular, roosting during the height of day and through the middle night hours.

2. Splendid Scareakeet (Frangibuloryhnchus splendens - splendid cracking-beak.) A small, long-tailed scarreot of Serinarcta's savannah woodlands, these birds nest in cementrees and feed on fallen grass seed in large flocks upon the ground. Males are very colorful, while females are less vibrant and mostly colored in shades of green. Species in this genus are usually very gregarious, and can sometimes form nomadic flocks numbering over 50,000 birds. During breeding, they scatter into pairs and small groups which may breed cooperatively. Splendid scareakeets have melodious, warbling calls, mostly heard in flight.

3.  Red-maned Scarreot (Pronoprinceps rubriubus - red-maned flat-head.) A medium-sized bird native to northern Serinarcta's forests, including the southern night forest, red-maned scarreots live in groups of two to ten and feed mainly on fruit and insects, taking large seeds occasionally. Their sharp beak is used to pry up bark under which large grubs are often hiding. Sexes look mostly alike, but females are up to 40% larger and so socially dominant, and typically take as many as three partners which all aid in providing food for her brood. The voice can be described as a low croak and is seldom heard. 

4. Grandiose Kawku (Ingenjudex grandis - largest immense-beak.) The biggest flying scarreot, the grandiose kawku of the southern saltswamp and forested coastal regions of Serinaustra has a wingspan of up to 7.5 feet. This eagle-sized species, which feeds singly or in pairs, is adapted to break open the very largest of seeds, and most often feeds on the huge nuts of the sedge palm, coastal plants descended from grasses, which produce the largest seeds of any living plant (and rely on them floating at sea to rake root on distant beaches.) This species also hunts small seedsnatcher molodonts which are recent rafting colonists of coastal Serinaustra in the late hothouse, especially when feeding young, and has the physical power to rip open tree holes in which they hide and pry them out with their hooked bills. This bird is named for its most distinctive sound, usually heard as a very loud, rising two-note call that sounds similar to its name. 

5. Cryptic Kawkutu (Ingenjudex arcanus - hidden immense-beak.) This small, highly omnivorous species is a close relative of the grandiose kawku in the same genus, but is a year-round denizen of the longdark swamp. The male has only a small patch of color behind an extendable head crest, and this species is otherwise very shy and seldom seen. Small groups may associate together to forage, which are larger in winter for protection from predators. Due to their habitat choice, cryptic kawkutus are nocturnal for much of the year and have exceptional night vision relative to other scarreots. The diet is mostly made up of tree seeds as well as fungal fruiting bodies. Around 20% of the diet is meat, mostly from insects and small arboreal vertebrates. The call of this species is a shrill, rising whistle, the source of which is difficult to locate in the dark. 

6. King Scareakeet (Frangibuloryhnchus regalis - regal cracking-beak.) The largest member of the large genus which it shares with the splendid scareakeet and many others, this is a very big scareakeet which is native to the Trilliontree Islands and northern Serinaustra. Social and usually found in flocks of several dozen, they feed mostly on fruits in the high canopy of jungle trees. Large creches of chicks are reared in tree holes by communities of up to ten polygamous adults. The call is a loud, shrill shriek, repeated often and unmistakable. 

7. Scourfowl (Pronoprinceps peragrarus - searching-through flat-head.) This large scarreot of the savannah woodlands is in the same genus as the red-maned scarreot, but is very different in appearance as well as behavior. It does much of its feeding on fallen seeds on the ground, and is adapted to walk and even run over flat terrain better than other species, scouring a wide area in search of its preferred foods. It also consumes grass and vegetation, which makes up a third of its diet; often associated with gantuans, and may feed on undigested seed passed in their droppings. It nests in single pairs most often in holes found or enlarged near the bases of sky islands, sometimes in isolated cementrees, but forages in flocks of up to a hundred. Male's voice is very deep and booming; female is almost mute.

8. Rascaw (Tondeognathus perniciosus - mischievous shearing-beak.) An opportunistic scavenger and small-time predator, this generalistic scarreot feeds on seeds, fruit, and smaller animals as well as carrion - up to 50% of the diet may be meat, and it has evolved a sharp, shearing bill to cut flesh even from large carcasses. The most basal living species with no closer relatives than the common ancestor of them all (the seedsplitting scarreot of 280 MPE.) The rascaw lives in northern Serinarcta at the edge of the night forest, down through to the savannah, and spends its life in small but closely-knit flocks of related individuals which cooperate to find food and even to hunt smaller animals. Rascaws are highly aggressive and so can dominate tree hole nest sites, driving away even larger scarreot species and often preying on their young. These intelligent birds communicate with a range of complex calls, most of which are loud and grating, but which can be soft and almost melodious, especially between bonded pairs. 

9. Bludgerigar (Psittacolaphus potens - powerful-punching parrot.) Not a true scarreot, but included for it is a closely related intermediate link between scarreots and the daggerbills, the bludgerigar - native to the savannah woodlands - is a carnivore with a specialized, fast-striking beak which is used to subdue prey animals, including other birds. Solitary, or seen in pairs at most, these birds don't form flocks and are generally antagonistic to their own kind, with the exception of mated pairs that form temporarily while the young are dependent on care; males then bring food to the nest, providing for both the female which does not leave until they fledge, and the young.

10. Golden Florikeet (Flosales aureus - golden flower-bird.) A scarreot genus which has lost its defining trait, these nectar-drinking pollinators have a long bill to probe flowers and cannot bite. Native to Serinaustra, they migrate south to the longdark swamp in summer while wintering in the southern saltswamp. The diet of these birds is mostly liquid, supplemented with the juices of fruits and very occasionally by insects. Musical and melodious, their loud, variable calls are truly bird songs and are often sung in harmony by bonded pairs to claim territories and fend of rivals. When feeding they are gregarious, flocking in the dozens in the rainforest canopy. Nesting occurs in large woven baskets of moss and vines formed into a purse-like shape, unusual among most scarreots, which frees them from competition with more aggressive scarreots or other competitors for tree holes.

11. Flipstone (Vertisax littoralis - coastal rock-turner.) A primitive psittacanser scarreot that is close to the ancestor of shellshucks but shows intermediate traits between other psittacansers and their nearest relative outside the clade, the blue-capped copperkeet. These birds feeds in small groups on ground, always near water, and eat shellfish, invertebrates and some seeds. True to its name, it often flips stones to find food, and though it can wade in very shallow water it doesn't swim. Nesting occurs in sheltered rocky alcoves, rarely in seaside trees. Eggs are laid on a fish or other small carcass in a manner more like taptrackers than most scareots, which feed the larvae for its first few weeks, after which both parents continue to provide the larvae with supplementary prey. The flipstone, which is native to coastal regions of both continents, has a nasally honking call.

12. Plovereot (Ambulaquus angustus - narrow water-walker.) A wading scarreot descended from a flipstone-like recent ancestor, the plovereot feeds on the same foods but in deeper water and raises its young similarly to that relative. It has a smaller range mainly restricted to the polar basin region but migrates south into the upperglades in winter, and then gathers in very large groups of up to 100,000, often feeding in sogland habitats. The call is flute-like and musical, made frequently, and can be incredibly loud in large flocks.

13. Wire-tailed Shellshuck (Merglobidus incurruplumus - curly-feathered crushing-diver.) Shellshucks are the most derived branch of psittacanders, and are true marine birds and strong swimmers. A swimming diver that uses its beak to split open large bivalves, mostly in saltwater, this species is native to the Centralian sea, though may rarely range to oceanic coasts when not breeding; its forays to seawater are brief, as it lacks mechanisms to expel salt from its body that closely related species like the otherwise very similar shimmering shellshuck have which allow them to spend their life at sea.

14. Dozer (Maximalavis coperorus - working-together biggest-jawed-bird.) The biggest scarreot, this flightless herbivore lives only upon the small isle of Faraway Island, the easternmost isle off the coast of north-central Serinarcta, where it has been able to evolve in a way that would be difficult on the mainland, full of bigger animals as it is. It now feeds mostly on leaves and branches, using a gigantic beak to rip them apart and pulverize them before ingestion. Weighing as much as 65 pounds, the dozer is free from competitors like gantuans, but still shares its islands with larger herbivore birds and several endemic predators, but holds its own, demonstrating very cantankerous personalities and being very willing to bite anything that bothers them. Most closely related to scourfowls, from which they might be descended, they are comfortable foraging alone and often bicker with each other when in close confines. Despite this, they instinctively ally together against any and all other types of animals and it takes only one hoarse, croaking call to gather all of the other individuals in the area to come to the defense of one another - a veritable mob of gnashing beaks and frightful, rattling hissing that can drive off any threat. Once the danger is gone, the group breaks back up and scatters, finding each other annoying - but this tendency to work together against a common enemy has allowed this unusual scarreot to thrive even in an environment with seemingly more efficient competitors and potentially deadly predators. Nesting occurs in burrows in the ground, which are dug out by the birds themselves with their bills. A single chick, fed mostly greens, grows much slower than in species that eat richer diets, and takes an entire year to fledge. It relies on constant care from both parents and usually at least one other helper to survive until then, and is not independent for almost 3 years; after fledging, it will help feed the next chick its parents hatch before it goes off on its own.

15. Cliff Scarreot (Ingenjudex scopulus - cliff-dwelling immense-beak.) Of the same genus as the grandiose kawku and the kawkutu, cliff scarreots are endemic to Serinarcta's sky islands, and breed in small caves and crevices within their sturdy structure. Very gregarious, they nest colonially and leave their roosts each day to forage in trees across the continent, mostly feeding on seeds. Though they are mostly grey in color, and so blend into their rocky habitat, both sexes have boldy striped tail feathers which can be spread out in display, and males also have bright red facial feathers which can be extended outward like a beard during courtship or confrontation. 

16. Plink (Speculabundus cautus - wary watcher.) A small, social burrower of the firmament, the plink eats grass seed and flies infrequently, instead scurrying across the ground more like a molodont than a scarreot. A large, white crest is used for communication, able to be raised as a warning flag or lowered nearly to invisibility depending on need. Plinks are often seen peering out of their communal burrows to spot for predators before they emerge to feed, and a sentry is always present, often perched on a high rock, which will scream if any sort of danger is spotted, sending all of the flock instantly underground. Chicks are raised in tunnels, and a social hierarchy is present in which a dominant female controls the rest and may, on her decision, cull the chicks of other females if she determines food is insufficient to rear them all, though in productive seasons, the entire clan raises all chicks.Though related most closely to the kawku and cliff scarreot, it is placed in a genus of its own, as it represents a specialized form of scarreot not quite like any other living.