Sogstepper Sniffler

A tiny, timid creature whose shy nature seems in contrast to its vibrant colors, the beautiful but elusive sogstepper sniffler appears in fleeting glimpses as it dashes through tall sogland grasses. 

A descendant of the plump sniffler, sogsteppers are lightly-built birds only 18 inches tall and weighing less than a pound. They have adapted to forage in the soglands by growing much longer legs, to keep their bodies above the water, and spindly toes which splay so that they can run across muddy sediments without falling in. Being so small they are vulnerable to many predators, and their survival depends on being quick and wary. They are nervous and jumpy, keeping most often to well-worn trails in the grass which become tunnels as the vegetation grows up and around them. They emerge only briefly, tiptoeing through shallow water and stirring the mud with their trunks to disturb fish and small invertebrates from hiding. It also hunts on land, catching bugs it finds clinging to grass stalks and using its claws to dig up grubs and worms from the dirt.

Sogsteppers live in pairs, which share a familiar range. Males are brighter than their partners with lilac-colored head feathers, while females are green with grey heads. Bonded couples communicate with soft peeping calls, while males defend territories with raucous songs which vary between individuals and are learned from their fathers. Though they most often forage alone, pairs return to the same nest each night. Both sexes care for the eggs in small throat pouches and hatch two chicks at a time. Young have even more extreme leg proportions than adults, letting them keep pace with them at just a day of age. They are effectively adult-sized in only five weeks - the fastest growth among trunkos - but will stay with their parents until about five months of age before they hatch another clutch and drive the juveniles away.