The boobrie are a race of bird that look very similar to a turkey or pheasant, except that they are twice the size with broad feathers of yellow, brown and sometimes orange. They are scavenger birds, spending much of their time on the ground searching for food or nesting and only taking flight when necessary. Often this leads to well rounded boobrie if food is plentiful. They live near water, feasting on the various small animals that frequent these water sources. They enjoy fresh fish most of all and have special hooked beaks for snaring fish in shallow water.

Most boobrie live in and around lakes and streams where they survive on fish and small rodents frequenting the water supply such as mice, beavers and even groundhogs on occasion. They do not live in flocks, but are generally receptive of other boobrie. Females are fertile only in late summer for almost two months and then they lay their eggs in warm nests, built from fallen wood. Males often stay with the female during her pregnancy and beyond, protecting their young until the eggs hatch.

Boobrie can be vicious fighters when their young or nests are threatened. They have long necks that they can whip around to deliver a deep gouge in an opponent or pierce them with the hook. They use this manuever to lie in wait for prey and snare them when they least expect it and it is quite useful for its defense. They can kick with their thick legs, clawing with sharp hooked claws. Fortunately for most humanoids, they cannot lift their legs very high so wounds from the claws are rarely life-threatening. Boobrie hunt by scent, using large nostrils built into their beaks to smell prey and fish. They will lay flat in a patch of weeds or a thicket, often near a watering hole awaiting their prey to come by for a drink. When food is scarce, such as in winter they will forage for worms and insects or the remains of another predators' meal.

Boobrie only inhabit a few parts of the world, mainly on Oriador in the northern lands. They are a common feast of the barbarians that live there and most other folk who have experience with them. There is good profit to be made by trapping boobrie and it is often a staple of the barbarian clans that roam these lands, fetching a high price from foreigners in southern lands.

These creatures appear in the novel, Child of Gaea.

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