I thought making a new fantasy species would be a lot of fun to do so, here! Feel free to make your own oc based on these if you care (as long as you credit me for the species!) I would be pretty happy and honored to see some, actually :D

I gave myself a little randomized prompt for this: it has to be somehow based on a sport. So... I chose badminton. The idea is that the species specializes in living in high up places safe from predators where they can get down from quickly and safely from any height by simply jumping down. They control their fall and direction with slight movements of their holey feathers and their feathered tails. Wind can be a problem and affect direction a lot, but their heavier heads facing downwards and the feathers that can be moved closer to the body in order to keep the wind from catching on them too much usually keeps them from completely losing control of the fall and floating off who-knows-where with the wind. Moving the feathers close to the body can also be used to make the body more stream-lined and fall down faster, so they have better chances of getting away from preying birds in the air.

Their physique resembles both mice and small humans. Their sizes range similarly to mice and they eat insects, seeds, fruits and more rarely meat of small birds or other very small animals (or even carcasses for more desperate ones or social outcasts). They have opposable thumbs and are quite crafty although still clumsier than humans because of their shorter and chubbier fingers, but they have very useful gripping claws that they use to easily climb back up. Some may accessorize themselves or style their "hair" because looks have a somewhat similar role in their societies as they would for humans. The accessorizing is usually designed in a way that it doesn't become a hindrance while falling or in the wilds.

if you can't read my chicken scratch writing, i'll write the text on the picture over again here:
"Hentremin" / "Hentries" (<-- a shorter name for the species or a nickname, use whichever. A singular of "Hentries" would be a Hentry. The plural and singular for "Hentremin" are the same)

"A species of mouse-like creatures that live up on top of all kinds of high-up places. They live in small societies called tribes (usually 10 - 50 members each). Their pelts are made of both fur and feathers with tiny holes in them, that allow them to glide/float down in a very controlled fashion from any height."

"COLORS:
* skin color (showing the possible colors with the text "and in between" next to it; the colors can really be a variation between any colours you want to pick from that)
ranges from light pink to brown to pinkish gray to pitch black.
* fur color (i won't limit what the main colour can be, pretty much anything is fine)
the fur may be all a singular color or a combination of the main color and white, cream and/or black. Patterns vary."

"TRIBE DIFFERENCES:
* Some tribes have evolved a set of whisker-like cheek-feathers. Their purpose is to keep the head's position more controlled while falling.
* There are tribes of "vampire" hentries that have evolved long canine teeth (the other tribes have typical mouse-like teeth). While not actual
"vampires", they enjoy meat and blood and even bones more than other tribes. They tend to live in colder climates and have thicker fur also.
(It's because colder climates have less options for food.)"

Then there is a couple pictures showing some typical landing styles (the common one and also an example of a "show-off"-style for daring personalities).
caption: "Hentries are light enough that even botched landings rarely result in serious injuries."
They do take care that their feathers don't get messed up too badly though so that they don't have troubles keeping stable in the air.

Also, I didn't look up scientific reasoning for any of this lol so no need to try to correct me on anything here it doesn't really matter to me much.
Thanks for reading!