The bootie bird, so called because of the shaggy feathers it grows to protect its legs in winter, is the meaching's principal avian predator.
One of the largest birds of the Posthomic Northern Hemisphere tundra, the bootie bird stands over a meter high, and is shown here in its winter plumage.
The bootie bird, Corvardea niger, is a large, tundra-dwelling, long-necked corvid from the Northern Continent, descended from the carrion crow. It is the largest avian enemy of the meaching.
It has a long neck and bill and long legs, and in this respect looks rather like a heron. Indeed, in summer it even behaves like a heron, wading into shallow pools and streams to dip for fish. In the winter it develops insulating feathers along its legs to protect them from the cold and becomes a land predator, hunting any smaller animals that are active at the time. It probes for the meachings through the snow and, with its long beak, is able to penetrate deep inside their fortress.