Okhalee was created by ask-drakos for the ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest.  Ask-drakos retains all the rights to Okhalee, and the illustration and profile here are adapted from their work.  While Okhalee is not an official part of ATOM’s canon, he and the other contest entries posted on this site are considered semi-canonical – the Star Wars Legends to ATOM’s Star Wars. Ask-drakos is a wonderful blogger, so follow them on tumblr if that’s a thing you do!

Aliases: The Chicago Phoenix, Agelaius maximus, Giant Blackbird

Date Discovered: October 13^th, 1955

Place of Origin: Yucca Flat

Notable Stomping Grounds: Yucca Flat, Lake Michigan and surrounding cities, Fitzgerald Island Kaiju Sanctuary

Length: 62 feet

Wingspan: 100 feet

Biology: Okhalee, before becoming a kaiju, was a male Red-Winged Blackbird. When his flock was migrating back north for the spring, though, they were caught in the blast of a nuclear test at Yucca Flat, killing nearly all of them – nearly. Though a few birds that survived the incineration were affected by the Yamaneon reaction ensuing, all but one quickly succumbed to their injuries, even with their new regenerative ability. This lone survivor, once fully recovered, returned to his home territory later that spring, and nested near Chicago. Though he was mostly unchanged except for his new size, a few remaining burns caused new features to form that are totally unknown in normal blackbirds – such as reinforced bony spurs on the legs and wings, and brightly colored wattles on the face.

Okhalee’s powers include:

• Super strength
• An enhanced healing factor
• Immunity to radiation
• Sonic calls

Personality: Okhalee appears to exhibit all of the normal behaviors for a male Red-Winged Blackbird, only scaled up to his current size. He will frequently patrol his territory, perching in high places like the tops of skyscrapers and certain sturdy trees to call territorially, as well as to forage for food. Though he consumes an enormous amount of grain and similar plant material, usually from farms, this is a cost that is readily taken by the residents of the Great Lakes for the services that he will provide – namely, the blackbird’s famous territoriality.

Much like a normal blackbird, he will aggressively defend it from intruders – but in the absence of other kaiju-scaled birds that could pose competition and the lack of predatory kaiju ‘native’ to the Great Lakes area, this means that nearly all incoming kaiju are treated as threats. Much as a normal blackbird will swoop at and attack birds of prey, humans, and even things as large as horses and cars, Okhalee will fearlessly attack all but the most powerful kaiju, driving them safely outside his territory. The residents there are more than welcome to support the giant bird for this, and have even begun using his signature alarm call as a sort of early-warning system for kaiju attacks; Whenever the call is heard, and it can be heard for well over a hundred miles, cities go on alert, and can easily evacuate or otherwise prepare for the threat coming their way. This reputation has led Okhalee to be somewhat revered, even, and he is certainly beloved both within and outside his range as a protector of mankind, even if an inadvertent one.

When attacking, Okhalee primarily will swoop at his target at high speeds, pecking at their heads and necks with his pointed beak. When this is not enough, however, he is more than willing to get into closer range, battering foes with his wings – the dual spurs on each wrist seemingly able to puncture nearly any armor – and tearing at them with his talons, or even simply calling out his song at such a volume that it can blast back small kaiju and damage larger ones. On some occasions, he has even been seen to ‘ride’ a foe, grappling their backs with his feet and holding on tightly as he pecks at them.  Even the nastiest of flying monsters treads carefully with Okhalee, as few monsters are as vicious or daring as the territorial blackbird.