An entry for Creature contest. Pretty much design a creature around just the name... However, I sorta just ditched the idea of making it the closest to what it really does, since we have no idea, and just went crazy with creativity! I don't think I've ever had more fun thinking up something... who knows! maybe I'll just get points for creativity... I think it's creative... rather spiffy too...

Some quickly typed information on Hand-fliers:
Hand-fliers are tough creatures that live in warm, dry climates. They have light bodies and long, thin wings with narrow membranes. Their heads are domed with a tough beak and large eyes, the back of their necks plated in soft, cartiliginous plates. Hand-fliers tend to group together for community support, females nesting in hollows and ledges of cliff faces while the males fly about finding food or fending off predators. Hand-fliers eat mainly bugs, some fruit, and small rodents, being slightly omnivorous they really could go for anything that tastes good, their favorite being human food. Males and females mate for however long they like each other, the females coming into heat once a year, both helping build a nest while then the female tends her clutch of 4 to 5 eggs while the male finds food for her. The eggs incubate for about 3 months before hatching, small, wrinkling chicks who's eyes are closed and will open in a matter of 4 weeks. The wing bones of a hatchling are soft and supple when they first come out the egg to prevent breakage, but then do harden in a few days. Once the chicks are old enough to fly and fend for themselves, which takes about 5 months, they are quickly ousted from the nest to make a living of their own. Hand-fliers live for about 20-23 years, the longest ever reported lifespan being 32 years. Hand-flier colors are a light dusty brown with some red hintings and lighter colored membranes. The tripple tear drop pattern on their tails is a reddish yellow, as is their underbellies and inner wing membranes. Some of the domesticated Hand-fliers with more brilliant coloring are refered to their fondly by their trainers as "fire-fliers."

Hand-fliers and humans.
Hand-fliers make great pets, and are easily domesticated. They can be trained to do numerous tasks, and will do anything for a tasty piece of food, any form of sugar being a favorite, although this is not exactly healthy for them, trainers do slip them a sweet treat every so often. They can be finicky at times, and will refuse a command if they don't feel like it. Training one of these creatures is a difficult task, and takes a long time and plenty of patience. The earlier a hand-flier can be handled and accustomed to humans, the more tame it will be, the soonest one can start taming a hand-flier is at about one week of age. Domestic bred Hand-fliers however, tend to be smaller than their wild realtives, but not as jittery and for more easy to deal with.

Yeah that's about all I got... any questions?