A whisperbird was a creature of significance to the Chiss Ascendancy, the nation of the Chiss species. This creature was a game piece in the Chiss strategic board game called Tactica. Furthermore, the light cruiser Whisperbird, belonging to Admiral Ar'alani's Picket Force Six within the Expansionary Defense Fleet, was named in honor of it. It is worth noting that the whisperbird also shares its designation with the whisper bird, an avian native to the moon Yavin 4.
In the year 18 BBY, following the exile of Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn" by the Ascendancy, the senior captain elucidated to Ar'alani that Ba'kif, the Supreme General of the Chiss Defense Force, had been placed in a situation analogous to playing Tactica. He had sacrificed his nightdragon—Thrawn—to the Syndicure, the Chiss governing body, to safeguard his whisperbirds—those individuals who served under the senior captain.
Within the current Star Wars canon, the whisperbird was initially presented as the namesake of a warship within the 2020 novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising, which constitutes the first book in the Star Wars: The Ascendancy Trilogy penned by Timothy Zahn. Subsequently, the creature manifested as a Tactica game piece in a flashback present in Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, the 2021 concluding chapter of the aforementioned trilogy.