Random Pet Family Appreciation Thread 21: Birds of Prey!

[Wassa]

Former threads:
Moths - Warp Stalkers - Crocolisks - Monkeys - Wolves - Core Hounds - Wasps - Dragonhawks - Turtles - Boars - Carrion Birds - Bears - Serpents - Tallstriders - Worms - Dogs - Ravagers - Shale Spiders - Sporebats - Spirit Beasts

Random pet family appreciation thread is where I roll a random pet family every week for everyone to share their pictures, their stories, their love for that pet family. Please no hate or rants. This is an appreciation thread. If you dislike the family, don't post! Hopefully with some love we can get some hunters to try out new pets they never would have thought to tame before.

Our 21st family is the soaring birds of prey!



Why are parrots in this family? They aren't even birds of prey. Oh well.

Bird of prey facts

~The bird of prey family was originally the owl family, tameable since Vanilla WoW. The family got renamed in Wrath with the introduction of eagles and hawks (brown stormcrows). One parrot was introduced into the family a few patches after.

~Birds of prey have eight models (owl, eagle, parrot, stormcrow, stormcrowdruid, seagull, undeadeagle, and the odd carrionbird) and 28 different tameable skins.

~Despite the family being so large, only two birds of prey are rare: Aotona and Olm the Wise. Both of these birds are also unique skinned.

~In addition to Aotona and Olm, Hell-Hoot and Ol' Beaky are other unique skinned named members.

~Albino Eyegouger and Brilliant Macaw are "semi-rare" birds of prey, only spawning very infrequently in the Deadmines. Since these skins are unique to these NPCs, they are very rare to see tamed.

~Two bird of prey skins are not tameable. These are owlsapphire and parrotskinbrown.

~Birds of prey like to interchange members of their family with carrion birds. Formerly Akkarai Hatchling, Brood of Anzu, Daggercap Hawk, Dire Raven, and Fjord Crow where all members of the carrion bird family. Carrion Bird, despite its name, was first tameable as a bird of prey before fixed. Diseased Vultures are still bugged and tame as birds of prey.

~Back in Wrath, birds of prey were tamed by 2.0% of level 80 hunters. Placing them at number ten on the list. (Source)

~Back in Wrath, eagle was the most tamed skin at 17.2%. Owlarrokoared was the least tamed skin at 0.3%. (Source)

~Owls had the ability Screech, which did damage to the target and had an aoe melee attack lowering effect. This was great for aoe farming before thunderstomp was basic for all tenacity pets. Owls shared this ability with bats and carrion birds. When the family was renamed in Wrath birds of prey forgot how to screech and learned to disarm enemies with their talons.

~There should really be some bird of prey flying mounts in game. Make it happen Blizzard!

~A variety of bird of prey minipets are in game.
Owls: Brilliant Kaliri, Great Horned Owl, Hawk Owl
Parrots: Cockatiel, Green Wing Macaw, Hyacinth Macaw, Miniwing, Senegal
Seagull: Rustberg Seagull
Tickbirds (eagles): Tickbird Hatchling, White Tickbird Hatchling

~Bloodsail Admiral's Hat summons a Blood Parrot to your side. This does not count as a minipet for any of the minipet achievements. Jewelcrafters can also summon a gem emerald owl from the Figurine - Emerald Owl trinket.

~Birds of prey are known for doing tricks, where they flip in the air. Not all models can do this trick. While in game it says "larger birds may not be interested," tricks are not determined by size but by the age of the model. Birds of prey models introduced before the druid flight form cannot do tricks. These are owls, parrots, and black stormcrows except the Daggercap Hawk. Birds of prey that can do flips are eagles, the undead eagles, seagulls, brown stormcrows, and the Daggercap Hawk.

~Oiled Fledgelings used to be able to be tricked tamed to keep it's oily coat of feathers as a permanent appearance buff.

~Both gem pets and ghostly pets are rare to find. However, only one pet has the qualities of both, being a ghostly gem pet! This is the Emerald Spirit owl. There is also some normal, non-ghostly gem owls that can be tamed.

~A popular low level taming adventure for young hunter to try is getting a Daggercap Hawk in Howling Ford. The hawks are level five to seven while the zone has level 68 and higher mobs. Rustberg Gulls are another low level bird of prey in a high level zone, being level one to five in a level 85 zone. However, some friends will be needed for this adventure as the zone cannot be accessed by portal until 85. Lower levels will need a summon in.

~Olm the Wise used to be a white skinned owl with an odd affiliation with the Cenarion Circle. In order to tame him a hunter had to put him/herself at war with the faction. Olm disappeared during the Shattering to return later as a ghostly owl.

~The seagulls are the smallest pet model tameable. With glyph of lesser proportion, they are the same size as the Rustberg Seagull minipet!

~Windroc Hunter and Windroc Huntress are two owls that where randomly removed from game in the middle of the Burning Crusade. These owls used to fly high above Nagrand and swoop down to attack talbuks.

[Wassa]

With so many beautiful models and skins for this family, I have a hard time taming just one bird of prey.

Wassa has a long lasting bond with an owl. In Burning Crusade the bond between Sakki, my blue vulture, and Wassa started to wane. I ended up releasing him and flocked to a new bird, an orange owl.



This is Mimizuku, her name meaning "horned owl" in Japanese. She is usually called Mimi by myself and friends. I remember going into Sethekk Halls for the first time and telling my friends I was going to tame an owl inside. When we got to the first pack of orange Avian Rippers they killed them all before I could tame. On the second pack, I told them "I am Hunter's Marking one! This one is mine no one touch it!" I still remember the exact owl I marked and tamed.

Screech back then was just so useful! It was a great aoe aggro magnet. Plus she had claw which was a focus dump back then instead of bite that Hahadori had, so her dps was so much better. She became my everything pet, I possibly used her more at the time than I used Hahadori. Lots of people hated her in PvP as her skin was the same as those annoying, dazing, falling to your death Monstrous Kaliris. Anyone that did Skyguard rep in Burning Crusade will remember those guys. Blizzard even made a quest based on how much people hated them. Monstrous Kaliris where untameable at the time, but with her being the same skin as them I guess that is why even though Mimi was an Avian Ripper from Sethekk, I always saw her as a Monstrous Kaliri, a younger one because she was so small. She's a feisty one and will attack anything that she sees as a threat, even Wassa's friends. She is easily startled by quick movements. Her favorite perch is on Wassa's right shoulder, as large scratch marks can been seen on the armor.

Mimi was my raiding pet once I specced BM. Her constant screeching was the reason the melee in my guild had their WoW sounds turned off. =P Once I reached the milestone of 30% crit a wind serpent became the best raiding dps pet for me, and having three pets at the time I had to release one. I could never release Hahadori, and I had the recently retired Grimtotem Spirit Guide. Mimi was the one that got released into the wild to fly free. Although I did greatly bond with my wind serpent, I hated not having Mimi at my side.

Once we got two more slots in Wrath my first retame was Mimi. I had to beg my friends to go back to Sethekk Halls since I couldn't solo to the birds at the time just to retame her. I marked the exact same owl I did before and Mimi was back. However, her screech was removed for a disarm. She became a PvP only pet from then on, only to do PvE stuff with me when I feel bad for leaving her in the stables so long.

With Cataclysm the Monstrous Kaliris became tameable, but I didn't switch her to one. To this day she, in-game, is an Avain Ripper but in my mind she is was always a Monstrous Kaliri.



Thankfully with Wassa I have been able to stick with one bird of prey because my bond is so strong with Mimi. I've thought many many times to tame a Brilliant Clayscraper parrot with that lovely teal and yellow plumage (they look just like my parakeet Kiwi that passed away in Sept last year) but I've resisted, so far...

Ptaysanwee on the other hand ended up with two birds of prey.



The first is Yakez. This name is perfect for him. It is a Carrier name that means "heaven; paradise in the sky; song from the sky." All these meanings match a ghost bird flawlessly.

I didn't plan to tame him. I already had a white bat with his name. I ran into Olm the Wise while leveling and it was an instant MUST TAME NOW! I ended up renaming my bat afterwards. Yakez was a much better name for a bird that has been to heaven and back.

He doesn't get out too much since his disarm isn't too useful for a hunter that rarely PvPs, but I love his name and he has a definite spot always in my stable.

Did I mention I love his name?



Zitkala is my other bird of prey. Her name isn't so creative, meaning simply "bird" in Dakota. This white eagle I did plan for, she was one of my original five pets that I wanted when I started Ptay in Wrath, but I ended up liking Yakez a lot more. I just wish the owl model could do tricks too like Zitkala can.

Come Mist of Pandaria Zitkala will become a minipet. The white tickbird is one of Ptay's most used minipets, so it will be like I never got rid of her at all.

I have to say this was my favorite photo shoot I've done of my pets in a long while. Birds of prey are hard to get good pictures of since they move so much. I took a hundred of screenshots of these three and these shots that I picked for this thread came out beautifully. Some of my favorites. <3

[Vephriel]

Beautiful shot with the lightning! I know how much of a pain that can be to capture. It's almost easiest to sit there and spam Print Screen and hope you get lucky.

[cowmuflage]

I've got a Seagul named Mark after a mate. His nickname in highschool was seagull and well it's stuck and well all call him that after all these years So I named my seagull in honour of him!

[Melentari]

Oh, birds of prey. <3

Most recently, Sigyn came into my life:


I started out to do this tame just for the challenge of it, but I never expected that the moment she became Rejongai's pet that I would fall in love with her so hard. She fits him perfectly, and I have no idea how that came to be. It was instant, and it's going to be hard to imagine him taming any other pet for a long, long while thanks to how well she clicked. There are still some pets I want for him, but I think Sigyn is it for him, really.

But back in the day, it was all about this:


Alystros. I was determined to tame him at level and it was probably the most ridiculous tame I've ever had. Running to a tame? That's nothing. But a hunter, a druid, and a shaman playing bird pingpong? That was crazy. This was back when hunters had mana, and I had to have mana potions from time to time just to keep trying to tame with all the knockbacks and interrupts. I don't remember how many times I died, but I do know that when the bird was finally tamed, I knew I'd gone through way too much trouble to let him go. I've kept him ever since and he even started my Weird Green Owl Collection. It consists of Alystros, Olm, and Ban'thalos at the moment, but if the sapphire owl ever becomes available, I'm betting that one will join the number, even though it's not green.

[Mozag]

I love birds of prey. I love the owls, the parrots, the hawks and definitely the eagles too. I only wish that the skill was useful for me personally, as I don't PvP and so these aren't terribly viable pets.

[Niabi]

I have a deep admiration for each and every one of my birds of prey ... although they're not quite what I would consider fighting companions.

In my own way, I visualize the owls and eagles to act as scouts and messengers for my hunters. It is because of this that I rarely have a cause to use any of my birds on the actual battlefield. Nevertheless, I consider each and every one of them permanent members among their respected teams and will occasionally use them whenever the RP bug starts to bite or if I ever wish to get back into PvPing (something I have not done since Burning Crusade)!

Khau's eagle is Askari


Niabi's owl is Zenith


Lilyth's owl is Ivarii


and Synestra's Undead Hawk is Dismas

[GormanGhaste]

My first ever hunter pet, Sepulchrave, was a Strigid Hunter from Teldrassil, who I kept until level 60.

Currently I have a seagull named Chalk. Definitely one of the most fun pets I've ever had!

[Melentari]

@Mozag Rhodri the Eagle? Is that a reference to Rhodri Eagle from the Talent/Tower and the Hive series by Anne McCaffrey?

[Mozag]

@Mozag Rhodri the Eagle? Is that a reference to Rhodri Eagle from the Talent/Tower and the Hive series by Anne McCaffrey?

I'm afraid not, in this case Rhodri was named after Rhodri Mawr, the great Welsh warrior (and king). Garshanga's pets are all named after famous warriors and warlords.

[starkittens]

I have the Bald Eagle on my Tuaren hunter (Read here and I have Olm the Wise on my troll. I love the bird models!

[TygerDarkstorm]

I love the bird of prey family. There's so many beautiful colors and types of birds that it's hard to pick just one to love! I think the only thing that keeps me from taming multiple birds on my hunters is that I tend to have very little use for a disarm ability, even in PvP (and I rarely PvP as is). My birds typically get brought along with me as I like to actively rotate the pets in my active slots and I just use them for doing some solo work occasionally. I do like that they can smart cast their disarm against NPCs so they won't waste the CD on something like a beast that has no weapon.

Anyway, the first of my birds is Talon, and he belongs to Rosaliah.

As beautiful and amazing as this bird looks, he sadly does not see a ton of use. I don't have much need for him in dungeons and he only rarely makes it into my soloing 5. However, despite his rare appearances, I do absolutely love him and love this color and how much he matches Rose so he'll probably have a permanent place in her stables. Perhaps I will consider RPing him similarly to how Niabi views her birds.

My second bird sees quite a bit more use and his name is Rhubarb and he belongs to Tsara.

I had never before tamed this color of parrot and that was one of my immediate draws to him. I knew I would just have to have him on Tsara and they just match so well together. Since I rotate my pets so often I kind of get the chance to see which ones I've really bonded with. In this guy's case, the first time I re-brought him out I was blown away by how he looked with my hunter. And it helps that he's a doofy sort of guy that likes to play practical jokes and keep Tsara endlessly amused. He's been a pretty good questing buddy.

[Miacoda]

Mia doesn't have any birds of prey, but hunters 2, 3, and 4 do!

Sarahma started off as a falconer, so she had a lot of birds. She still does, but I also fond that I like her to have white/albino reptiles. She has three birds of prey, currently!

Her first is Arethorn. He was her first super bonded with pet. From the first time I rolled this character, I knew she would have to have a golden eagle, so as soon as I hit level, I went out and got one. I chose the name Arethorn (original spelling is Arathorn, of course, but that was a reserved name) because of it's meaning, Royal Eagle. He's pretty royal like, to me. <3 He's a loyal bird, and along with Sabu (Spirit Beast), he's one of Sarahma's best friends. He's very dignified and one of those characters that doesn't give a damn what others think.


He also has a new favorite zone in Mists of Pandaria... <3




Sarahma's second is Astor, a hawk. He was another bird that I knew I'd eventually had to have. I love the brown hawks, they're just super lovely. I used to also have his sister, Astoria, but I eventually let her go. I might get her back eventually, if I can get more room, but right now she's wild. Astor though, he's pretty similar to Arethorn, very loyal, happy to help Sarhma out. Slightly less dignified, perhaps? He's very sweet, though. <3
He also likes Vale of Eternal Blossoms.



Then there's Aotona... Aotona used to be with Mia, but was released when Arcturis came about, then was retamed again, then released again, and is not with Sarahma, where she'll permanently stay!
Aotona is a bit vain. But the funny thing is, she only cares what she thinks she looks like. She couldn't care less if someone else thought little of her appearance. She has her own standards that she keeps. In fact, she really doesn't like being around other people. She's not a show-off at all, just likes to think that she's pretty. She has a bit of an attitude, and only really cares for Sarahma (and Mia, hehe). If you're not one of those two people, don't stick your hand out to pet you. You might lose that hand. She love the company of Sarahma, though. She'll preen her hair and what not, as long as she's not in a major city or anywhere else crowded by people. Then she gets a bit grumpy. XD







Espen has one bird of prey, an owl named Gullinkambi, which means Golden Comb in Norse. Gullinkambi in Norse mythology is a golden rooster that lives in Valhalla. He is one of the three roosters whose crowing is foretold to signify the beginning of the events of Ragnarök.
Gullinkambi is... well, he's a very special bird to me, but there's no real reason for that at all. I was just running Sethekk Halls on Espen one time and I AOE'd a bunch of owls.. but this owl survived. I just sort of stood there for a while and watched him whack on me, and eventually I just tamed him. XD


Then Syleanora. she has three birds of prey... all of them owls!
Banethil is one of Syleanora's first pets. As I was leaving the starting area, I ran past this one owl... that was the one for me. So, I ran to a stable master, came back, and tamed him. He's a very cuddley owl, and very sweet. He likes spending his time flying with Syleanora on her hippogryph, and scouting around Teldrassil.




Syleanora's second owl is Olm. He's a bit of a mysterious one, sometimes going off on his own to do who knows what, but he's happy to serve Syleanora is she needs assistance. He'll even help out other Sentinels.




Then there's Whisperwing, her third and most recent owl. Whisperwing really enjoys being around the temple of the moon, or just in Darnassus in general. Perhaps it's because she seems to glow in the city, or perhaps she just likes the view. Her name is well... very fitting for an owl in general, but Whisperwing seems to be especially silent. she's a good scout and great ambusher.

[Rhyela]

You have some pretty birdies, there!