Flitterbird

The flitterbird is an endangered species of small bird native to Expin. They're renowned for being the fastest accelerating species on the planet, able to go from hovering to 100kmph in less than a second. These sudden bursts of speed makes a rather vibrant afterimage, which in their natural habitat where they frequently stop & start in quick succession almost makes it look like short-range teleportation. This quick movement speed made them desirable as messengers, and so efforts were made to domesticate & train them for this purpose with decent success, though some of their speed is lost when carrying a message. During the daemonic incursion was the first time the flitterbird was truly put to the test as a long-distance messenger, and whilst early on was effective, as the daemons grew more aware of them being used to deliver messages they began intercepting them more & more. This included any wild flitterbirds found, just to be on the safe side. Whilst fast & able to quickly manoeuvre, they're less well built for maintaining speed over long distances, requiring frequent breaks to keep their energy up. This made it easy for the large hordes of daemons to apply the constant pressure required to exhaust themselves, even if most of their host couldn't match the speed of a flitterbird. Eventually, when it became clear that the flitterbirds weren't getting through to more distant towns, their use became limited to known safe areas like Cromvale, whilst the task of long-distance messaging was trusted to message runners.
Appearance
Flitterbirds are rather small, averaging around 30cm in length. Their plumage has a wide variety of colours, often resembling the colours of the local flora . Due to a short lifespan of only a couple of years, this plumage tends to adapt rather quickly across generations when flitterbirds move to a new habitat. Flitterbirds have very long, narrow beaks, suited for their nectivorous diet.
Diet & Behaviour
 Flitterbirds being nectarivores draws them to areas densely populated with flowers, where they spend most of their days flitting from flower to flower. With their short lifespans, flitterbird broods tend to be quite sizeable, a female laying 10-20 eggs in a nest at a time, often leading to a larger flock than the area can manage after a handful of generations, leading to rather frequent emigration in areas where they aren't heavily predated on. Their speed tends to make them difficult to catch, meaning most predators that do feast on flitterbirds tend to find their nests and lie in wait, catching them whilst they sleep.