Swift Forest Strider and Lost Torranche

Violet, the Swift Forest Strider & Lost Torranche at the Darkmoon Faire

So I know this isn't a rare spawn, but I just had to share anyway. I loved this screenshot so much I submitted it to WoW Insider and apparently they liked it too, because they used it for their Around Azeroth Column today. Here is a link to the article: http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/03/around-azeroth-everybody-knows-that-the-bird-is-the-word/

I've been riding around on this sexy new mount, the Swift Forest Strider, for the past few days and I'm loving it. Not just because he's basically a big purple chicken, but partly because I found an incredibly cool purple chicken hunter pet for him to hang with.

First of all let me tell you a little about the mount in case you weren't aware of where it comes from. The Swift Forest Strider and the Darkmoon Dancing Bear were two new mounts introduced in patch 4.3 with the revamped Darkmoon Faire. To purchase the mounts you will need 180 Darkmoon Prize Tickets, which can be earned from doing the Darkmoon Faire Dailies, profession quests at the Faire and from items that drop while doing pvp, kill counts, and of-level dungeons and raids while carrying a Darkmoon Adventurer's Guide. It should take you at least two Months of doing just about everything to get either mount. For more detailed info on how to obtain tickets and the mount check out WoW Insider's Guide to the new Darkmoon Faire.

Now, a little about my mount's fancy friend. Lost Torranche is the purple and green tamable tallstrider that you see in the screenshot above. He is the only one in this color that I know of that is currently tamable in game, and he matches perfectly with the Swift Forest Strider Mount. These pretty birds are level 70, and can be found on the floating Island called Sorrow Wing Point just south of Terokkar Forest. I highlighted the island in red on the map below.

Also, for your viewing pleasure I have fraps'd myself taming said purple tallstrider in the video below.