Biome: The Central Anciskan Floodplains

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Baroserinae: "roughly 'Dim-witted Canary'", in reference to small head to body ratios of these large terrestrial birds.

----Genus Baroserinus

-----Species Illustrated ~ B. magnificus (Greater red-crowned Wombler)

Towering above all fellows and feeding almost exclusively on the foliage of bamboo, some of the largest living land animals of this time are of this eco-region: three-hundred-and-fifty pound herbivorous behemoths, a megafaunal family known only on this continent, the Womblers. Standing up to seven and a half feet tall, they stand almost pillar-erect on thick-set trunked limbs, their bodies inflexible and towering; their once useful wings now entirely useless and almost completely absent, they are slow and plodding, very steady on their feet, for if they fall over they will find it most strenuous to right themselves again - and in boggy conditions, perhaps impossible altogether, though they are highly buoyant and able to float well in water. Though by megafaunal standards they're not huge, compared to their ancestors, which may have weighed less than three ounces, they have increased in size by several thousand times, and have inflated to such sizes at an unprecedented rate. Without predators to concern them, they have evolved no ability to move quickly and amble methodically, eating almost every hour of the day and night to provide themselves with enough energy just to survive on, using large and heavy-set shearing bills to cut shoots and stems, which are swallowed whole, to be broken down with gastroliths. They are more or less defenseless and nest upon the ground, hatching a single chick from a fifteen pound egg every third year, which is still entirely altricial and dependent on parental care, laying in a crude nest of grass on their bellies, unfeathered until almost five months of age and requiring warmth from the parents at almost all times, and gaping for food until it is over one hundred pounds - only then can its legs be developed sufficiently so as to support its weight - a weight it will take 16 months to reach on such a poor diet - almost entirely the shoots of bamboo - as it is provided. Even after it can stand, it will not feed itself adequately for more than another year, relying on its parents for its survival for a total period of almost 30 months.

Sexual maturity is not reached for another four years, though lifespans can extend a number of decades, for as adults there exists no land animal sufficiently powerful to harm them, save for one another; a lack of predator fear has gone hand-in-hand with a lack of fear for conflicts in this clade; while otherwise incredibly peaceable, males will fight one another to the death over females during nesting seasons, and even outside them, and will casually engage in lasting and potentially deadly battle for the most trivial of purpose simply as a matter of course; so intense are the fighting instincts of the males that, in a most ironic twist, despite having evolved to have no predators, male mortality is incredibly high, with 80% of all animals dying from fight-related injury, most commonly a leg shattered by a powerful blow of the oppponent's bill, before their twentieth birthday - a lifespan that females, much more docile and herding animals, may out-do by three times. It is so that the very lack of predators in the Womblers' environment, which require the evolution of a healthy and natural level of fear to survive alongside in a normal environment, have resulted not only in animals which have no predator fear, but no fear at all, and subsequently none of the natural inhibition of animals in more natural environments to avoid unnecessary conflict - to a wombler, every conflict must be fought, and there is no flight - only fight; it has been noted that the high-intensity intra-specific aggression of the male wombler draws very close parallels to behavioral disorders sometimes found in dogs bred to be low-fear; a lack of fear, without very careful management, can easily go hand-in-hand with a lack of fight inhibition, with the potential existing to produce truly dangerous animals.

It should be noted that, like most birds of Serina, the instinctive tendency to sing, both in courtship and territorial aggression, has not been lost; male Womblers of most species are very avid singers, with their songs being almost identical on inspection to those of modern canaries but slowed down five to ten times and brought down several octaves, as if slowed with audio-editing software. The impression furthered by the throat and bill of the singing male, which move in equally slowed measure as if the live animal is being seen via high-resolution slow-motion film.

Axbills

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Dromaeoserinae: "Running Serin"

----Genus Magnarynchus: "Giant Beak"

-----Species Illustrated: M. imperator (Imperial Axbill).

Axbills, which along with other birds of the Dromaeoserinae diverged from Womblers and others of the Baroserinae six million years ago, are a widespread genus of relatively large (bustard to emu-sized) flightless ground birds which feed predominately on coarse grasses and in which the male exhibits a considerably enlarged bill cask used in intra-specific display, but not combat, for the bill - while large and seemingly strong - is in fact very fragile and composed almost wholly of keratin. While both groups descend from a common flightless ancestor, the two groups have gone down different paths, with the Baroserinae having become overall large and stocky birds while the Dromaeoserinae have become more lightly-built and capable runners, for while Womblers and kin are sedentary browsers of stable environments, Dromaeoserins, Axbills included, are on the whole highly migratory animals of the open plains, adapted to cover very wide distances throughout the year as they follow seasonal rains and the flushes of green growth they bring to the savannahs. Found throughout Anciska and central Striata, flocks of the Imperial Axbill, the most common species of the time period, may cover over one thousand miles in a year in flocks several million strong as they follow the rains, relying on unknown cues to find them - it is possible their sense of smell may be of more use than most birds'. It is only when they find them that the normally highly gregarious birds will disband from their herds and come into breeding condition, with the males moulting from normally dull browns and grays into a rich attire or bright reds and yellows. Males form leks, gathering by the thousand in choice meadows and displaying, flashing their brilliant colorful neck patches and belting out lengthy and varied sequences of bubbly song, having the best chance of procuring a mate by having the largest and most out-sized bill casque - a signal that any male who can carry such a handicap and still survive must be of excellent genes - and most varied motif (every lady loves a little music to set the mood). A hen, her bill far smaller than her mates and her plumage less exuberant, will still likely mate with a number of attractive males, ensuring that of them all only the best manage to fertilize her eggs, which are laid in group of two (rarely three) directly upon the ground and incubated as well as fed solely by the hen; following the breeding season, males band together into large bachelor herds until the females return with young in tow several months later.

While they have few predators, Dromaeoserins have nevertheless already undergone significant adaptations toward a precocial reproductive strategy in recent millennia as increasingly seasonal, dry climactic conditions mean that sizable quantities of food are impermanent and sporadic. As a result, a lengthy period of juvenile helplessness just isn't possible when food supplies in any one region may only remain for several months. While smaller flying birds can circumvent this by rapid growth from egg to fledgeling in only a few weeks, for a bird so large complete maturity is impossible in such a small time-frame, which is why Dromaeoserins are notable for hatching out of their eggs fully covered in soft down and able to stand and walk after only ten to fifteen days. While they will be dependent on their mothers for food and protection from the elements and predatory attack for far longer, as long as they are mobile the young can follow their parents to new pastures as they green to continue the rearing process elsewhere; some species of Dromaeoserins will even carry their young upon their backs, nestled in the plumage, when they are very young and unable to walk far on their own.

Most Axbills, typical for the clade, are omnivores with a preference for plant matter, using their large beaks to tear grasses and fibrous flower stalks which consume only marginal quantities of animal protein in the form of insects and invertebrates, though young are offered considerable quantities of crickets and other meaty insects during rearing when rapid growth and development demands increased protein intake.

Aardgeese

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Dromaeoserinae

----Genus Solumornis "Ground-living Bird"

-----Species Illustrated: S. vallivivus (Valley Aardgoose).

Aardgeese are basal, highly successful Dromaeoserins native to all major landmasses on Serina during the late Hypostecene with the exception of Stevhlandea and extreme southern Karii. Named for their flightlessness and diet of soft grasses and water plants, not for any tendency towards burrowing, they split off from the group very early on, relatively speaking, roughly five million years ago when the climate was marginally wetter, allowing these birds of floodplains and marshland to spread worldwide before becoming isolated to a number of smaller habitats surrounded by drier seasonal savannahs less conducive to their survival. By and large, they are conservatively colored, medium-sized flightless birds ranging from ten pounds at their extreme smallest to upwards of eighty pounds at their best, closely related to Axbills and very nearly resembling the ancestral form from which these and other more derived Dromaeoserins evolved from. Behaviorially, they are very alike others of their clade, though unlike Axbills, this species does not lek; instead males control small harems of three to five hens, the young of which he assists in rearing. The chicks of this genus are similarly precocial compared to other canaries, with this species too engaging in transporting the young upon the back. Aardgeese are predominately birds of terrestrial but near-water habitats but swim well, being plump and bouyant, and can cross rivers and lakes relatively easily thanks to their slightly webbed feet. While they can survive away from large sources of water and may cross large distances of dry land seasonally, they rely largely on high-protein algae and aquatic invertebrates to rear their young and do not breed successful in drier upland environments. Hens lay four to five eggs at a time but will rarely wean more than three, as the youngest is often bullied by its older siblings, for the hen begins sitting as soon as the first egg is laid, meaning this chick hatches up to a week before its younger relatives and often takes their share of the food. The nest is a simple structure of grass and dried mud often placed near water.

Both genders of Aardgeese sing, the hen joining the male during courtship, though the song is comparably basic to the ancestral canary's melody and highly repetitive, a short series of three to eight whistles and clicks repeated with little variation. When startled or upset Aardgeese will honk plaintively and will growl and hiss if further pressed. Aardgeese are normally social flocking birds, though opposing males may battle during courtship season, kicking at one another with the sharp hind claws; these battles rarely cause lasting injury.

Stiltskins

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Oravora: "Shore-eater"

----Genus Oravoravis: "Shore-eating Bird".

-----Species Illustrated: O. purpurupectus (Violet-breasted Stiltskin).

A portmanteau of 'stilt' and 'siskin', long-legged proto-wading birds, which range in size similarly to modern plovers, are found throughout most Serinan continents in a variety of habitats, particularly coastal, where they feed on algae, water plants, seed, and small invertebrates stirred up from shallow water or tall grass with the long legs and pointed bill. Still capable flyers, they are highly migratory in some locales, nesting far towards the poles and wintering near the equator. They breed near water in the branches of taller herbaceous plants, building a sturdy nest of twigs, and the young are typically altricial for songbirds, though born with a coat of down and with eyes that will open after only two days. Some stiltskins sing and some have largely lost this habit, their calls reverting to simple screams, chirps, and warbles. Most stiltskins are highly gregarious, breeding in colonies. There is little to no male-to-male aggression and the species is seasonally monogamous.

Galliwalts

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Undiqueopterinae "Rounded Winged".

----Genus Galliopteryx "Chicken Wing".

-----Species Illustrated: G. magneurosa (Big Red Galliwalt).

Opportunistic omnivores, Galliwalts occur on all Serinan landmasses by the late Hypostecenic, derived from the same terrestrial, predominately plant-eating stock which would later give rise to both Baroserins and Dromaeoserins. While these groups would lose flight entirely, Galliwalts, which are generally no larger than turkeys, still retain it, albeit only on a basic level and for only short distance use, preferring to scratch around the soil for their food. Galliwalts eat mainly seeds, berries, and insects, but will also consume fallen nestlings, tender green shoots, and snails if the opportunity arises. Young galliwalts are less well-developed at hatching than the young of Dromaeoserins, but grow more quickly and can run at three weeks of age; fly at eight. Both the male and female care for the young - typically three or four - with males sometimes taking two mates at once, but frequently being monogamous for a given season.

Male galliwalts attract mates with an extremely complex song sung while perched above the ground in an open space, in which they combine hundreds of different verses of both their own creation as well as sounds and calls mimicked from other birds and even insects. While singing, males add a visual aspect to their performances in the form of a large, divided throat pouch colored brightly blue and red which they inflate whilst singing - the same structure also occurs in hens, though considerably smaller, and hens will often sing, albeit less skillfully, during the height of the mating season if a male cannot be found, in hopes to contact one. They are extremely attuned mimics and both genders will also utilize the copied calls of larger predatory birds to frighten off smaller sorts that may harm their eggs or young. The hen and cock are typically very similar in appearance, with the male being marginally larger and slightly more colorful.

Qualts

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Undiqueopterinae "Rounded Winged".

----Genus Corpulavis "Plump Bird".

-----Species Illustrated: C. pratabscondens (Little Prairie Qualt; Hooded Galliwalt).

Qualts, several species of which are also referred to as Galliwalts, are a genus of Undiquopterine ground canaries native to central and southern Anciska down through Stehvlandea, closely related to Galliopteryx, which approach more closely the flightless weight-to-wingspan barrier and which almost never fly, preferring to run around close to the ground in tall grass, eating mainly seeds, flowers, and the larvae of beetles. Behaviorally otherwise they are very similar, though the song of the male is much more simple and does not involve mimicking; hens sing rarely if at all. Nests are often on the ground in plain sight, though in predator-rich areas simple structures may be built in crudely-fashioned depressions in soft sand and hidden with foliage. Males typically mate with half a dozen hens and help assist them all in feeding the young, with the hens doing all of the incubating.

Shriekers

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Raptuserinae "Thief Canary".

----Genus Rhynchaudax "Bold Beak"

-----Species Illustrated: R. vulgaris (Common Shrieker).

Shriekers are a genus of thrush-sized, very bold and omnivorous canaries and among the earliest predators to evolve in the Serinan ecosystem; while today some forms have further specialized in this regard, basal shriekers remain as one of the planet's most adaptable and wide-ranging bird groups, able to survive in almost all habitats and able to consume nearly anything, from seeds to fruit and berries as well as insects, eggs, nestlings, and carrion. They are clever and aggressive birds that are particularly dangerous to other birds' nestlings, and they are very noisy and raucous birds with harsh screaming calls that can be deafening when the birds gather in large flocks. Males will mate multiple hens and help provide for them all to a minimal extent; the female builds the nest and incubates in a tussock of grass several meters above the ground. Nestlings grow and mature at a fast rate typical for small songbirds.

Canaries and Canary Thrushes

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

----Genus Serinus; Genus Siskus

-----Species Illustrated: Serinus nigrensis (Black-cheeked Canary); Siskus caudirosa (Rosy-tailed Canary Thrush); Siskus albus (False white-eye).

The black-cheeked canary and rosy-tailed canary thrush are small sparrow-sized songbirds native only to the central Anciskan grasslands. Whilst many birds following introduction to the moon quickly diverged into distinct and new niches, a far greater number have kept to much more basal niches and appearances - very basic true finches, even of the same or very closely related genus to the ancestral canary, are widely abundant throughout Serina, with some species having changed very little at all fundamentally over the course of their evolution. The black-cheeked canary is a typical mostly herbivorous seed-eater with a melodious song which nests in low-lying clumps of grass and feeds its young, which fledge at 20 days similarly to other finches, predominately insects and seeds. The canary thrush, one member of a more widely spread bird genus, is like most of its new genus an insectivore, filling the niches of warblers and thrushes on Earth and consuming only minimal quantities of plant matter. The little false white-eye, another species of canary thrush, is similar, though preys more on beetle larvae, worms and gastropods, especially slugs, rather than adult insect prey, gleaning these from the undersides of leave with a particularly thin pointed bill.

Doodlebirds

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Myrmecophagorninae "Ant-eating Birds"

----Genus Acurhynchus "Needle Beak"

-----Species Illustrated: A. stevii (Olive Doodlebird); A. volans (Primitive Doodlebird).

Serina's first true response to the overpopulation of ants, doodlebirds form a specious clade of borderline flightless (some species can flutter minimally, others are grounded with significantly reduced wings, even within the same genus) insectivorous canaries which have adapted to consume almost nothing but ants, both adults and larva, gathering the insects not only from their nests, which it disturbs by digging with its large clawed feet, moving away the sand with the wings, but simply running about the ground with long, thickly-scaled legs - to guard from bites - and up the stems of foliage, nipping up any they come across - thousands in a day. Typically no larger than a pigeon, they are commonplace in most environments but very easily missed, being very fast and subdued in color, able to disappear into tall grace without a trace in front of your eyes.

Doodlebirds nest in dense thickets of grass at ground level, and rear their young exclusively on the larvae and eggs of ants, particularly honey ants. The young hatch blind and naked and grow quickly, though slower than smaller songbirds, fledging in 36 days, after which they run after their parents for another two weeks. During this time, parents will feign injury to lead would-be predators away from their young in a manner similar to killdeers. Doodlebirds are unique among Serinan birds of the era in that they form lasting pair bonds of several years to life, though they will readily take new mates should something happen to their previous. Male doodlebirds no longer sing so much as coo in the manner of doves; it is a pleasant, plaintive call, but only of a few drawn out notes.

The little primitive doodlebird, as well as several related species, are as their names suggest the least specialized members of the genus, consuming significant amounts of beetles and crickets in addition to ants and being capable flyers for short distances. Larger species, such as the olive doodlebird, are entirely flightless, though can glide to an extent.

Dougals

-Order Passeriformes

--Family Fringillidae

---Subfamily Cymbamergornae "Dipping Boat Bird"

----Genus Cymbarmergornis

-----Species Illustrated: C. inelegans (Inelegant Dougal)

Dougals are a diverse group semi-aquatic canaries that feed predominately on aquatic insects and water plants. Plump and stout, their bills are large and serrated, adapted to scraping algae, and their feet are webbed. Some of the first canaries on Serina to take the plunge into aquatic environments, they're awkward swimmers at best, not sure whether to use their wings or feet or both or neither for propulsion, and prefer to stay along the shoreline. Caught in flux, they're awkward on land, and even more awkward on water, though have some leeway for they are able to exploit a niche by feeding underwater that is otherwise entirely unused by other bird species. Some dougals still can fly, while others have lost the ability.

About the size of a mallard duck, Dougals are still confined to a dependent altricial childhood, though not quite so much as ancestral canaries, with the chicks being unable to swim until three weeks of age, being hidden until then in a large rounded ground nest of grasses and mud in which the hen alone incubated the eggs. The male and female both feed the young, but the male is not generally a good parent and often leaves his hen for a new mate a few weeks after they hatch, leaving the hen alone to parent them. Six eggs may be laid, and if both parents help feed this many may fledge, but in cases where the hen must mother alone half of the young typically do not survive to this point. Dougals are interesting in that singing has been completely lost and the male has almost no courtship beyond a few simple chirps, simply jumping on the hen to copulate and affirming the pair bond in a most unceremonious manner.