Recent successes at breeding psittagrifs (AKA parrot griffins) have lead to the most ambitious griffin yet, the Carolina griffikeet. Unlike previous psittagrifs, the Carolina griffikeet is derived from the Carolina parakeet Conuropsis carolinensis, one of the United State's two formerly native parrot species. Native to the eastern half of the US, it was highly abundant up to the mid-19th century when loss of habitat, extermination campaigns by farmers, and the greed of the fashion industry caused the species to dwindle catastrophically until it sadly went extinct in the 1910s. Fortunately, more than enough DNA was recoverable in museum specimens to create the first Carolina griffikeet.
Wanting to encourage Heather Bruton's recent run of parrot griffins (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, among other griffins), I got a mini-commission and asked for a parrot griffin modeled after the Carolina parakeet. While I'm not a huge fan of parrots (they tend to be bitey birds and a scarlet macaw chomped my hand once, which wasn't the galling part; that was my dad and the parrot's owner seemed more amused than interested in educating me on respecting a parrot's personal space), I can still want to show off my knowledge of extinct species so they can be remembered.
