Originated in Mongolia and northern China. Flies all over the northern regions of the world, cause it prefers cooler climate.

The ancestor of the Tapejara is no other than the Archaeopteryx, the missing link between Sauruses and birds. Muggles falsley believe the Archaeopteryx to have died out before the cavemen ever set foot on this earth. But what they didn't know was, that a wizard had saved these birds from extinction.

Distinguishing Features:  

It's body-shape is similar to a pedi-saurus with a long tail and large sharp claws. Unlike reptiles its body is covered in feathers rather than scales. Its beak is long and lined with sharp teeth. A coarse hair ridges follows down from the top of its head down to the tip of its tail.  The feathers on its belly are orange and so is the bristly ridge down its back. The rest of its feathers is bluish and purple which can differ in shades. The Tapejara has a large set of wings that resemble those of a giant Eagle.

The normal size of a Tapejara is that of a fully grown Pegasus or Unicorn.

The Tapejara dislikes noise very much and tends to get rather stressed and nervous if it's peace is disturbed. Its not easy to tame and impossible to domesticate. Hence it is advised to stay silent when spotting a Tapejara. Once agitated it's long sharp beak and claws can cause severe damage to any wizard. 

 Tape's live alone and only have a mate when they want young. A Tapejara usually lays two lilac coloured eggs after mating. The male leaves and the female raises the young.

Tapejara's prefer living at the top of the mountains in cooler regions, especially with lakes or the oceans around. There's quite a few of them found all over the north of Scotland nowadays. Some have settled in northern Sweden, Norway and Finnland. It is said, that someone spotted a pair of them very high up in the european alpes, but only close to a lake of which there are much fewer there than in Scotland. 

Tapejara's love all kind of fish, frogs, toads and particulary Pirrangles if you can catch some. If you actually spot a Tapejara hopping around a lake for a longer time, be sure that the water is infested with Pirrangles (Dangerous!)

Special magical featureand use:

Feathers: The purple feathers which are only found in the wings of a Tapejara can be used as quills to write secret messages. No ink needed. you just scribble your message and name of wizard the message is for and only that person is able to read it. Very sought after by Aurors, because Tapejara-feather-quills carry truely secret messages, that cannot be 'hacked' by any spell. The only problem is, that Tapejaras do not let go feathers very often. In fact it's a very rare matter.