curlbeak
The bill curves down and then back up at the terminal hook — not like the off-world curlew, which curves uniformly, but with a distinctive upturn that serves no aerodynamic function and every predatory one. curlbeaks hunt by echolocation and hivemind trace, locating a warm body through thirty metres of dense murk. They will follow a trace for hours without sound and without any movement visible to the prey, repositioning in canopy or on high ground as the target moves. Patient in the way that things are patient when patience has never cost them anything.
The strike is silent. No call before. No warning movement. The bill enters through the back of the neck. The terminal hook is why the entry wound is rarely the problem.
The call — a falling three-note phrase, hollow, slightly too long — is not a hunting signal. It is a territorial marker. If you hear a curlbeak call, you are in its range. If you hear it a second time from a different direction, it has repositioned around you. If you do not hear a third call, assume optimal distance has been reached.
Field note: I have heard the second call and then silence on four separate occasions and am still here. I consider this a statistically uncomfortable sample size and have not sought to expand it.
| Type | Lurker |
| HP | 2 |
Free eBooks
COMING SOON
COMING SOON
NEW
