Cat Hawk
With the rise of small burrowing wyverns, there was suddenly a major food source that nothing was really specifically adapted for. The cat hawk, a smaller descendant of wyvern hawks which faced intraspecific competition and inherent danger from hunting large prey, arose to take advantage of this food source. It is about 2.6 feet long and 1.5 feet tall, and it has a wingspan of about 6 feet. Its smaller size allows it to more easily hide from its prey, as well as more easily catch them as it is much easier to catch and grip something that isn't tiny compared to one's self. Its eyes are proportionally large, as it hunts at night when its primary prey is awake, and its face is short to allow for a more powerful bite. Its skin and feathers are covered in spots, which combined with its sandy coloration compared to its ancestor makes it more difficult to spot as it stalks through tall Thanos Grasses, much like the real-world leopard.
Like its ancestor, the cat hawk uses its head feathers and fatty dewlap to show off its health to potential mates. Unlike its ancestor, it has additional colorful feathers on its cheeks--this is attractive for the same reason, as having so many feathers indicates health. It partially buries 2-4 eggs in the sand and guards them until they hatch, which takes 4-5 weeks. The parents raise the semi-altricial young together, bringing them food by day and warming them at night with their wings, until they are around 2-3 months old and can hunt for themselves.
Like its ancestor, the cat hawk is both a predator and a scavenger. When hunting, it stalks its prey through the cover of polyphyta before pouncing, pinning them with its wing claws before finishing them off with a devastating bite. It mainly preys on the sand wyvern and the mouse wyvern, but it may also hunt the finhopper, U. saharus, and U. subterrania.
