Tallbird

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Teen=

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"Free from the shackles of the sky."

- Wendy Tallbirds are tall, two-legged black flightless Birds which can be encountered in the Rockyland. Usually they stay near their Tallbird Nest. They lay a pale speckled blue Tallbird Egg in their nest the player can collect and either eat (by cooking it or using it in the Crock Pot) or hatch into a Smallbird by placing it near a campfire at night, and on normal ground in day (unless it's winter). Smallbirds will grow into Smallish Tallbirds, which will in turn grow into Tallbirds. Tallbirds take three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen. A Tallbird will automatically attack the player or other mobs if they come too close to the nest. They may also attack if they are nearby the bird itself. If, however, an egg is stolen, the Tallbird will chase the player for a very long distance. Tallbirds will also attack Smallbirds and Smallish Tallbirds when too close, or when a Tallbird is chasing the player with Smallbirds following the player.

Tallbirds take 2.5 days to respawn. They are considered innocent creatures even though they are not passive or neutral, and killing one adds 2 points to the player's naughtiness level, which can cause Krampus to appear.

Smallbird
Smallbirds are passive mobs, and the child version of Tallbirds. One can be obtained by hatching a Tallbird Egg, which is a delicate process (see Hatching Tallbird Egg for more details). A Smallbird will further grow into Smallish Tallbird in 10 full days. They are considered innocent creatures and killing one adds 6 points to the player's naughtiness level, which can cause Krampus to appear.

As with any other mob, Smallbirds will trigger Tooth Traps and Bee Mines, and since they're quite fragile, they won't survive one trap. Smallbirds require 20 calories per day and will demand food by chirping when hungry ( < 50%), and when starving ( = 0) will die in 4 game hours. They can be fed Berries (raw only) and Seeds (raw, toasted and Crop Seeds), and they will also eat seeds off the ground if they are hungry. Eating anything heals them to full health. Since flying birds don't run away from Smallbirds, they're a good way to get free Feathers and Morsels.

Smallbirds will follow the player around, regardless of nearby danger. Smallbirds fall asleep at night. If the player goes far enough away from the Smallbird, like Chester, it will wake up and follow, then go back to sleep. If the player stands still, a Smallbird will either bounce around or stand idle. When idle, it might have a puzzled look, cocking its head/body at an angle. Since a Smallbird hops as movement, it can jump over 1-level-high walls. Smallbirds will gradually grow up and become Tallbirds. It takes 10 days for Smallbirds to grow into Smallish Tallbirds and another 18 days for Smallish Tallbirds to grow into Tallbirds. As adults, they become hostile towards the player and attack as any Tallbird, so caution is recommended.

Smallish Tallbird
Smallish Tallbird or Teenbird is a neutral Mob that grows up from Smallbirds. Like Smallbirds, they follow the player and attack player's targets. They will keep a short distance from the player but won't attack them unless hungry. They are considered innocent creatures and killing one adds 6 points to the player's naughtiness level, which can cause Krampus to appear.

Like Tallbirds, Smallish Tallbirds will attack aggressive Mobs that come too close. They require 60 calories per day and will eat any food left on the ground when hungry and, like Smallbirds, will start to chirp more and more until fed. When they begin to starve, they will start pecking the player and will die after 8 game hours if not fed. Eating anything heals 1/3 of their maximum health. They will eat any Meat, Fruit or Vegetable, including Glow Berries, Rotten Eggs, and Rot.

Smallish Tallbirds grow up into Tallbirds in 18 full days. When they do, they act like regular Tallbirds, no longer following the player and becoming aggressive when approached.

If the player is wearing a Spiderhat, the Smallish Tallbird will peck the player until the hat is removed.

Night
At night, the Tallbird will go over and curl up into its nest. Sometimes they will also do it during the day. The player can push them off the nest and steal the egg, although sometimes it's possible to steal the egg without touching the Tallbird. However, they do wake up after few seconds and give chase.

Sometimes, Tallbirds will remain "curled up" and asleep, even if attacked, making them really easy to kill.

Fighting Strategy
Tallbirds cannot be stun-locked and are thus quite dangerous in melee combat. They can be kited, though it may be difficult as there is only a short interval between their attacks. To do this, dodge an attack, press the F to attack it once, then dodge again. With good timing, it is very possible to defeat a Tallbird without taking damage. It's even possible to hit a Tallbird twice and run out of its pecking range without taking damage.

Tallbirds can be set alight using Fire Darts or a Fire Staff, causing it to run around. Usually, the fire will go out before doing enough damage to kill the bird. The weapons are generally safe to fire at a Tallbird since they spawn in rocky areas devoid of things that can burn, though care should be taken to prevent them from spreading the fire to their nests.

A Tallbird can be put to sleep by Sleep Darts after multiple hits, by use of the Pan Flute, or by eating a Mandrake; however, using a mandrake is generally a waste of resources when they can be easily killed using other methods.

Also Tallbirds once aggroed on a mob that invaded their territory will only go after that mob and not change targets even after being hit by the player or other mobs. This can be exploited to kill them safely by making them aggro on Chester or other followers and then attack the Tallbird without retaliation.

With normal damage modifier characters, it takes 12, 9 and 2 hits with a Spear, 10, 8 and 2 with a  Bat Bat, 8, 6 and 1 with a Tentacle Spike, 7, 6 and 1 with a Ham Bat and Thulecite Club, and 6, 5 and 1 with Dark Sword to kill a Tallbird, Teenbird and Smallbird respectively.

Trivia

 * Tallbirds run faster than the player. In previous versions, unless killed or gotten stuck they would continue chasing the player forever, because their chase timer used to reset every time they attempted to attack.
 * Tallbirds may spawn together in a Tallfort, where 20 or so Tallbird nests are placed in a square guarding multiple clumps of rocks.
 * Maxwell mentions the Tallbirds may have been a failed experiment.
 * Tallbirds can lunge over small enough gaps between two landmasses (with ocean in the middle) and land a hit on the player.
 * A Tallbird can kill the player in 3 hits if they are not wearing any armour and have full health.
 * Tallbirds cannot make new nests when their nests are destroyed.
 * Although eggs hatched by the player create Smallbirds, eggs left in a nest without an adult Tallbird present will create an instant adult.
 * In older versions of the game, when playing as Wendy, the player had to watch out for Abigail as she will kill Smallbirds and other creatures following the player. Since the "Strange New Powers" update, Abigail gets along with the player's followers.
 * Smallish tallbirds will eat unhatched Tallbird Eggs from the ground if hungry.
 * Accidentally issuing an attack on a Smallbird or Smallish Tallbird while other ones are following you may result in them killing each other, so care must be taken.

Bugs

 * The Smallish Tallbird may stop following the player if it can't reach a food on the ground and the player goes too far. (may also happen from eating too much rot - not being fed directly from the player)


 * If the Smallish Tallbird stops following the player, it will keep distance and won't accept food directly, only if it is on the ground.