Tallbird

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"Free from the shackles of the sky."

- Wendy

Tallbirds are tall, two-legged black flightless Birds which can usually be encountered in the Rockyland. Often they stay near their Tallbird Nest unless the player or another mob is near the 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, or if they are nearby the bird itself. If, however, an egg is stolen, the Tallbird will chase the player for 3-5 screens away. Tallbirds will also attack Smallbirds and Smallish Tallbirds when too close, or when a Tallbird is chasing the player with Smallbirds following the player, but they will only attack Smallbirds and Smallish talbirds hatched by 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.

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.

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 hunger points per day and will demand food by chirping when hungry ( < 50%), and when starving ( = 0) will die in 4 game hours (2 minutes). 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 (whilst it is sleeping), 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. For players keeping multiple Smallbirds, accidentally issuing an attack on a Smallbird or Smallish Tallbird while other ones are following the player may result in them killing each other, so care must be taken.

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.

Extremely fragile as they are, Smallbirds require care to be kept alive. One method is to use a pan flute to put it to sleep, keeping the smallbird in a certain area, allowing the player to explore dangerous areas without risk of its death.

Smallish Tallbird
Smallish Tallbirds or Teenbirds are neutral Mobs 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.

Like Tallbirds, Smallish Tallbirds will attack aggressive Mobs that come too close. They require 60 hunger points per day, 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 with a very low damage attack (2 damage per hit), and will die after 8 game hours (4 minutes) 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.

Tallbirds will remain "curled up" for a few seconds after being attacked while they are asleep, allowing the player to land a few hits before they wake and give chase. If the Tallbird took any sort of damage previously, then landing a few hits while they are asleep may end up killing them.

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 lunge over small enough gaps between two landmasses (with ocean in the middle) and land a hit on the player.

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 sometimes safe to fire at a Tallbird since they often 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 with Sleep Darts after some hits, by use of a Pan Flute, or by eating a Mandrake; however, using a mandrake is a waste of resources when they can be 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.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Tallbirds and their offspring when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Trivia

 * Tallbirds run faster than the player. In previous versions, unless killed or stuck, they would continue chasing the player forever, because their chase timer used to reset after 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 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 would kill Smallbirds and other creatures following the player. Since the "Strange New Powers" update, Abigail gets along with the player's followers.
 * If a Smallish Tallbird eats a damaging food item, it will regain the health it lost.
 * A Smallbird can be used as a Steam chat emoticon.
 * Two Smallbirds can be seen on a Steam profile wallpaper, which can be earned by crafting or trading.

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.
 * Rarely, a Smallbird can play the animation of it haching out of its egg and then instantly vanish.
 * If a Tallbird gets stuck on the other side of an ocean barrier, it may still be able to strike and harm you (only if the barrier is small enough).

Gallery
Wysoki Ptak