Desert Hawk
Carrion birds circling the deep desert of Arrakis, read by most as a sign that death has passed nearby.
Desert hawks scrape a living from skies that offer almost nothing in the way of conventional prey. They feed instead on whatever the desert's steady, quiet violence leaves behind. They circle wherever death has recently come: heat, dehydration, a worm attack, a skirmish between rival factions. That habit has turned their presence into a grim but dependable omen for anyone who spends real time in the open sand. Newcomers find the sight unsettling, a gut-level reminder of how thin the margin for survival runs on Arrakis. Lifelong Fremen read the same circling birds as nothing more than a practical signal, one more piece of information about the desert's current dangers. Desert hawks play a small ecological role next to the sandworm. Even so, they hold a distinct, unmistakable place in the planet's visual and cultural landscape.
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