Gilda HC WIP (Patreon)

Sharing a common ancestor with hippogriffs, griffins are hexapodal birds of prey. They are smaller and lighter than their hippogriff counterparts, and enjoy a diet largely consisting of meat, carrion, and eggs (stolen from the nests of smaller birds....though some griffins will plunder the nest of their own species, provided the opportunity. They are opportunistic cannibals and will consume the eggs and carrion of their kin). 

Most griffins are solitary predators and extremely territorial, though this is changing as Equestrian culture has come to the forefront. More and more griffin villages and settlements are popping up, as the species realizes the benefits of community labor, care, as well as the opportunities for trade with other groups. Still, most griffins don't form close social bonds simply by nature, and look down on pony "friendships" as overly saccharine and even manipulative. Griffins quite like shiny things, and, like dragons, have a fixation with hoarding wealth.

Griffins are polygamous and don't mate for love. They court each other with calls and elaborate flight displays (often locking talons and free-falling together in an intricate "sky-dance"). After the female lays her eggs (which have soft shells to assist in laying), she and the male cooperate to care for them and the resulting chicks- which require constant vigilance, as the larger chicks will sometimes kill and consume the weaker ones. When the chicks are flight ready, the parent couple usually split apart and leave the young to fend for themselves, though rarely, some couples will form a mated bond. Rarer still, some griffin parents will remain by their chicks even as they grow to adulthood, in a family unit.

While griffins typically stick to hunting only small birds and mammals, they're very capable of tackling larger animals, such as deer fawn or the occasional goat. Some ponies get nervous around griffins, due to old wive's tales about the predators dragging off screaming pony foals. Fortunately, over the centuries, Princess Celestia has done an excellent job in her global campaign to teach griffins (and most predators, really), that her little ponies are not to be fucked with. 

Gilda is a younger griffon that was schooled in Equestria, as part of one of Celestia's many species inclusion initiatives. Although she didn't get along with ponies at first (further compounded by her falling out with Rainbow Dash), she has risen to become a surprising figurehead in advancing griffin society and promoting Equine-Griffin alliance and trade. She also bakes the best scones in all of Griffonstone.

also, personal headcanon, Gilda is a pottymouth and uses insults a little more stinging than "dweeb"