The Deviltree
Novelette 11,513 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"The creature was not the last of its kind, but it had been a very long time since he had seen another like himself. Loneliness had been Deviltree’s unrelenting companion, driving him to the edge of the cliff once more to look out onto the valley below. Tree-devils were a solitary species but also highly intelligent beings..."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Analog, where the author gets the click.