A large arboreal crane that gains its name for its ability to store water within its feathers to later drip down in a raining effect. It uses this ability to trick fish into believing that food sources, such as insects, are falling into the water in the same way as normal rain. Once the fish are distracted enough, it strikes for an easy meal. Rainers or "Rain Cranes" are very large for naturally occurring birds, with the shortest being around 4ft tall, the largest natural species reaching a whopping 8ft tall. This is so large that many of the larger species have evolved to take on a greenish colouring and even encourage the growth of moss upon their wings. This way, they can mimic small trees as long as they are sitting patiently. Due to their size, they will not just limit themselves to the eating of fish, but nearly anything that they can safely fit in their mouths. Only the smaller Rainers are capable of any sort of sustained flight and the larger species, and even the adults of some of the smaller species, mainly use their wings for gliding or the distribution of water.
Wonderlin Sheet
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Proceed With caution!
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All Rainers start as expert climbers but most of the larger specimens lose this ability as they grow in size. This is mainly due to the difficulty of manoeuvring through branches at their increasing size and the lack of any preditors able to Succesful take down a creature of their size in their natural environments.
When threatened Rainers will open up their wings to their full span in an attempt to sacre away any would attacker. If this fails they will then strike at their assailant with their large lance-like beak which is easily able to dispatch a foe upon a lucky hit. More likely though is that a powerful kick from their legs will fend off most of their more determined problems.
Unfortunately, their lack of natural predators allows them a dangerous level of confidence against humans. Being a creature unwilling to move and ready to fight for it they have seen their numbers vastly dwindle to near extinction in areas where civilization has encroached upon their lands. Fortunately, conservation efforts have now been in place for some time now, and a deeper level of understanding has allowed their numbers to replenish in their areas.
Supernaturally occurring specimens of this species often appear in sights of high magical power bordering on large wetland rivers. Such creatures can often produce their own rain and reach the size of actual trees.
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