Everything you want to know about...
Brimbees!
Pronunciation: Brim-Bee
Plural: Brimbees
Baby Brimbee: Dot
Group of Brimbee: Chorus (Example: A chorus of Brimbees)
General Information:
These short creatures stand no more than a foot tall at the shoulder, with most of their height being made up of their long necks and tails. They have a thick coat of brightly colored feathers over their body with stripes to make their flocks look as confusing and chaotic as possible. The flags on their head and tail can make it difficult to tell where one brimbee starts and another ends, and a brimbee missing its tail is a sign of just how effective their methods are.
Despite their best attempts at misdirection, they are still very popular targets for predatory species of all kinds. Since these guys never bother keeping quiet and always run around in huge groups singing, they attract all kinds of attention. Even wyngrew will hunt them sometimes, though some find it hard to eat something so... cute.
To keep up with all of the predation, brimbees breed frequently throughout the year, with a single hen caring for as many as three dots at a time.
If you go to a flock at night and are very lucky, you might catch the carefully crafted bonding rituals they have. A brimbee looking for a mate will scratch out a small clear area near the group, and hop around, singing a warbling tune as they flick their feathery flags to impress the opposite sex. These little dances mostly happen during a full moon, when there's plenty of light for them to be seen.
Singing:
Brimbees are known best for their melodic voices. They are masters of mimicking instruments, and will use all kinds of sounds to communicate with each other in the flock. A single brimbee is likely to prefer a certain instrument, but a whole flock can see enough variety to make a chaotic orchestra.
They're also just as happy to talk to wyngrew as they are to talk to each other, but regular talking won't work for these animals. It takes an instrument to have a conversation with a brimbee.
A determined wyngro can train brimbees to make music with them using a bit of encouragement (mostly food). Play an instrument well enough and you'll be amused to find an entire flock quieting to listen to you play. If they like what they hear enough, they'll start repeating it back and forth with each other.
On occasion they've been observed to use certain sounds more often around a wyngro who plays an instrument of the same sound. They have a surprisingly good memory for animals, and some brimbees will make a point of visiting a wyngro every year to hear a particular song get played.
Their natural voice has a beauty of its own, and some choruses of Brimbees never choose to use the sounds of other instruments, and just stick to their natural song.
Their “default” chirp sounds like that of a pleasant wind instrument or a chipper little pipe playing. (You can listen to examples below!)
Brimbee Growth
Migration Habits:
It's a sure sign that spring is here when an excited chorus of brimbees streams into the area. They almost always show up right after the last frost of the season, hungry and excitable after spending their winters feeding in the south. While it's possible for them to show up at any time of the year, they rarely stick around for long after the frost returns in fall.
Whatever time of year it may be, brimbees always have to stay on the move to keep their many hungry mouths fed. As hungry as the parents might be, the babies are even hungrier, and they're always around pestering their parents with light tittering songs as they beg for more and more food. These chicks are part of the reason the brimbee must travel as much as they do, as they can only eat fruits and newly grown leaves. Even in the winter they tend to have little hungry mouths to feed, and have to keep moving along the southern coast to find fresh food.
To prevent themselves from having to settle down in an area to brood, brimbees lay eggs that hatch within hours of being laid. Their dots are up and running around in no more than an hour after hatching, and they're ready to keep up with the flock. This makes the eggs quite a bit larger than one would expect. Brimbees grow fast though, and so do their eggs. A healthy hen can lay as many as three eggs in a year.
