Dragon bird spirit

The dragon bird spirit is a chimerical creature from the Spirit World, often found nesting on top of large mountains.

History
Shortly after arriving in the Spirit World, a frightened Korra swatted a young dragon bird spirit, causing its wing to break upon impact. Korra took the injured bird along with her after she was found by Iroh, who led the two back to his teashop, where Iroh explained Korra's potential to restore light in the Spirit World.

When Korra inquired as to how she could find Jinora, Iroh suggested that helping the dragon bird spirit find its way home could potentially help in her search. Korra agreed, and asked where she would need to take the dragon bird. Iroh gestured to the top of a large mountain encircled by storm clouds known as High Rio Peak, where the dragon bird spirit makes its nest.

On her way, Korra encountered several dark dog spirits, who she eventually restored to their pacified forms after finding the light within them. The spirits helped her scale up the mountain, where she was finally able to return the spirit back to its nest. Upon being reunited with three other young dragon bird spirits, the four entities merged to form a large dragon bird, which flew around the peak before allowing Korra to mount its back.

The dragon bird spirit took Korra to the spirit portals near the Tree of Time, before departing. Before Unalaq could destroy Korra's spirit in the assault that ensued, the dragon bird spirit returned and attacked Unalaq, before swooping down to remove Korra from the scene.

Anatomy
A young dragon bird spirit is almost entirely purple in coloration, with tufts of light pink feathers along its back, tail, and legs. Although it is generally bird-like, the dragon bird spirit is also serpentine, sharing several attributes seen in dragons, including fin-like ears and horns.

In its adult form, the dragon bird spirit is almost entirely yellow in coloration, with tufts of red feathers covering the interior of both wings. There are also patches of lighter yellow feathers over the spirit's eyes as well as along its back. The adult dragon bird spirit has more distinct dragon-like attributes, with considerably more prominent orange horns, larger fin-like ears, whiskers, and a scaled underbelly. Otherwise, it retains more developed bird-like features, particularly in its broad wingspan, large talons, and strong beak.

Behavior
A young dragon bird spirit is docile and fragile, but takes on a more aggressive demeanor in its adult form. Despite this, the dragon bird spirit shows loyalty to individuals that care for its wellbeing, as it demonstrated with both Iroh and Korra. The dragon bird spirit creates nests located in high altitudes, such as High Rio Peak. When traversing through forests and low-level scenery, the dragon bird spirit can change to its younger form, which allows it to travel easily through small spaces, although rendering it considerably more vulnerable in the process.

Connection
Young dragon bird spirits resemble the chicken in anatomy, particularly when looking at the wing shape, the beak, and the feet. As an adult, the dragon bird spirit bears anatomical similarities to the prehistoric archaeopteryx, while also resembling many reconstructions of its appearance, particularly in its body shape and size.