Pocketpicker

Pocketpickers are a species of bogglebirds (nocturnal predatory descendants of the blue-tailed chatteraven)  that have recently learned to exploit a very rich food supply; the pupating young of giraffowls, namely the huge browsing species of Serina's longdark swamp. It is a meal that is difficult to reach, but the pocketpicker has found the way in.

Kept in their huge mother's abdominal pouch, the small, ovular egg-like pupal membranes of these (and other) seraphs protect the young chick as it develops. Giraffowl like the immense skybreakers produce very large clutches, packing their pouches full to the brim. Usually, the pouch is kept closed by a secure ring of muscles at its entrance, keeping babies in, and hiding them from predatory animals outside.

 But the pocketpicker is very clever, and it knows that they are there. Some time ago, its ancestors somehow learned that hidden within these pouches lies a great treat, and so the knowledge has been passed down so long that their beaks have grown longer and hooked at both tips, like tweezers, to reach into the pouch and take out a sac. The muscles holding the pouch closed are too strong for it to manually pry open, however - it is no larger than a crow, while the adult skybreaker is thousands of times bigger. So there is a very real problem in getting into the pouch in the first place. To do that, the pocketpicker tells a little white lie to the mother.

Normally, these seraphs release their broods when their chirping alerts her that they have hatched and are ready to take flight. So much bigger is she, and unable even to peer into her own pouch, she cannot otherwise tell when they are ready except by these cues. The pocketpicker has learned, over the generations, to mimic the calls of the skybreaker's chicks identically. Clinging to her belly with its sharp little claws, it hangs near the pouch entrance and softly emulates the cries of newborn chicks ready to leave. The mother relaxes the muscles in the pouch, and the thief can then enter its head into the opening and, with luck, snag a fat, nutritious meal. Yet the seraphs are evolving alongside the enemy of their offspring, and may quickly shut the door again when they realize the trick, so that the pocketpicker must be swift in taking one. Some pocketpickers have learned to work in groups to better deceive the mother, with their multiple calls encouraging a longer opening. Over time, both parties in this arms-race may continue to outwit the other; it is uncertain which will ultimately win. Thieves which can successfully trick the mother repeatedly could eat her entire brood over a number of weeks, yet females who stop responding to the calls may suffocate their own young when they hatch and need to escape. For now, the pocketpicker tricks the seraphs and takes their young just often enough to feed itself occasionally, but not enough to deplete its food supply or cause the mothers to better learn to avoid them. In addition to stealing babies, it feeds on a variety of insects and smaller birds in the southern forests.