User blog comment:Zephyr the Exalted/Make-a-Mutt Workshop/@comment-25924729-20150804075209

Name: Ying

Appearance: It resembles a normal owl, but is far larger. Standing at 30 inches from head to tail, and with a wingspan of 1 meter. Plumage is entirely black, except for underside of the wings, which contain streaks of bright orange. It has large eyes with amber pupils and typical owl-like hooked beak. Also has two "horns" in it's forehead.

Abilities: Obviously, as a bird mutt, it can fly, smoothly and silently even through complicated obstacles. It's plumage also makes it adept at camouflage, nearly invisible in low light. It also displays a degree of intelligence and strategy, stalking victims and waiting patiently to strike.

Weakness: It's nocturnal, so if absolutely refuses to hunt and attack during the day. Also has low stamina and is rather easy to kill with normal weaponry, making stealth and ambushes it's only sucessful tactic to hunt. It limits itself to a small territory, which it viciously guards, however if a tribute runs far enough from it's territory, it gives up and doesn't pursue further.

Samples considered: The first experiment yielded a bird too cowardly for use. it simply slept through the day and hunted small animals at night, ignoring large targets like humans. Scientists increased Harpy eagle DNA for the second experiment, to make it more aggressive, but resulted in the mutt being too wild to contain. They finally got it right on the 3rd try, which made the Ying in it's current state. It is currently  under consideration whether or not to engineer venom glands on the bird's feet, so that it attacks tributes and poisons them, killing even after they've left it's territory.

Additional information: Ying means "shadow" in mandarin, referring to it's stealthy hunting tactic, but can also mean "eagle" when pronounced differently.