Kawani, Red Tail Hawk

Okay, what's this, you say?  A bird as a character? Before Sebastion Blackthorn married Noshi Bluecrystal, Heir to Varanath, he was a mercenary and he loved the challenge of getting things in hard to reach places.  One such place was the royal rookery.  He and Derangos broke into the rookery one night on a whim and stole a red tail hawk egg.  Sebastion wasn't sure what to do with it, but decided to keep it warm until he did.  The next morning, Kawani hatched.  As tough as he was he instantly took to her and fed her until she was big enough to take care of herself.  She lived nearly twice as long as any normal hawk, brooding many nestlings and was always by his side, even when she died.  She was smarter then the normal bird, able to give Sebastion warning of incoming trouble and even able to retrieve certain objects Sebastion may have wanted.  If you are working on Intelligence of 3d6 (or something similar) she'd have been at least a 6.