Not much has been implemented yet for my draft in terms of bird species; mainly foundational structure and logic for the Vanilla Species (Chickens and Parrots) to function alongside the nests draft.

BUT - there is major potential using something like ModelEngine or a custom engine, to make many variants of custom bird mobs that can fly and have other unique behaviors, running through the modular bird species system I’ve developed.

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Bird Nest Assignment & Occupancy

Nest assignment is handled by the NestAssignmentEngine , which attempts to find a suitable nearby nest and assign a bird to it - either automatically (e.g. random tick event loop) or an external trigger (e.g. player pairing using seeds).

Key logic includes:

• Nearby nest search (within a defined radius)
• Occupancy limit checking
• Backoff system (prevent spammy reassignment attempts)
• Species filtering (only birds or supported mobs are considered) </aside>

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🐣 Species-Level Assignment Behavior

Each BirdSpecies can influence assignment through:

• Preferred NestType list (e.g. GROUND, TREE, WATER)
• Custom filtering logic (e.g. biome, nest variant ID, time of day)
• Adjustable backoff penalty or override
• Chance to reject nests even if space is available

Future Expansion:

• Different species may prioritize differently:
  • Chickens = prefer occupied nests (social)
  • Owls = avoid occupied nests (solitary)
  • Ducks = prefer water nests only </aside>

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Future improvements to the assignment logic could include:

• Assignment weights - Species can rank nests by preference (type, variant ID, biome, etc.)
• Biome filters - Avoid assigning parrots to non-jungle nests
• Time-of-day influence - Owls seek nests at sunrise, parrots at dusk
• Species compatibility - Some species may co-habit, others are exclusive
• Rejection callbacks - Can return false if a nest isn’t suitable, even if technically open
• Assignment delay rules - Don’t assign for X ticks after nest placed or after failed attempt
• Flock-based decision - Multiple birds decide together whether to roost </aside>

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Occupancy Size System

Nests define their maximum occupancy space, while birds define how much space they consume, allowing for flexible combinations. e.g.

A nest with OccupancySize = 4 could support:

• 2 Baby Ducks + 1 Adult Chicken
• 1 Owl + 1 Baby Duck
• 4 Baby Finches

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Boids & Sky Visuals (Ambient Bird Simulation)

Not all birds need to exist as full mobs at all times. By simulation boid-based flocking in the sky, we can populate the world with natural looking bird movement without the performance cost of hundreds of real ticking entities. These lightweight visuals would only materialize into real mobs when contextually appropriate

Example bird boids from an existing mod!

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