More Avian Refs, Family Systems Lore (Patreon)

Polars and skimmer, plus bonus drawing of the tail display in flightless brights and courting behavior-- where two partners point their beaks upwards and twist their necks, clicking the lower beaks together. It's something like... a very formal kiss? More intimate versions involve neck contact and beak preening.

The page for avian biology is looking a lot more presentable now. I also added new text to the avian culture page about families and habitation.

             "Skimmer avians tend to live in co-ed settlements, with a bright hegemony  in control of the government and subsidized housing and essentials for  duns who are raising young. Typically, skimmers live in apartments and  houses alone or with children in large housing blocks, and housing  blocks/buildings are frequently either majority dun or majority bright.  Brights are usually entirely uninvolved in the raising of children  outside of a kind of universal “alimony” tax on adult brights.

            Flightless avian duns and brights tend to live in separate  self-governing settlements, though some brights form small nomadic bands  instead. During spring, groups of brights will come “caroling” to dun  settlements to display their tails, socialize, and court partners.  Outside of the courting season, brights visiting dun settlements will  typically wear long garments to cover their tails as a signal that they  are there for business.  Children are raised in dun communities but upon  becoming adults, brights are typically ousted, though some Hotsuuv dun  cities allow brights to remain if they shear their tail feathers and do  not court duns.

            Diver avians live in co-ed communities, with multigenerational  families often occupying large longhouses, though there are some  bright-only houses composed of individuals who immigrated from different  islands. Brights involve themselves in raising their dunparent family’s  children, but not the children of their courting partners. Although  individual houses tend to be governed by duns, elder brights tend to  govern settlements and may also live apart from their family as a  display of impartiality.

            Polar avians live in large co-ed communities with entire cities  frequently occupying a single building, although individual adults tend  to occupy separate apartments within it. They are the only avian species  where adult brights are expected to be directly involved in the rearing  of their children, with duns frequently being visited by their past  partners even outside of the courting season.

            Pygmy avians live in co-ed settlements similar to skimmers, with  separate housing blocks for adult brights and duns, though these housing  blocks usually have bedrooms with shared common areas rather than  apartments. Brights are expected to leave the community they were born  into when they become adults, typically flying to a different island in  the chain. Individual settlements are usually governed by the oldest  members of the dun houses."