A swooper was a large, flying plant, indigenous to Phylos. It had root-like appendages that stuck in the ground to feed.
In 2269, the crew of the USS Enterprise encountered the creatures, and one of them captured Spock with its root-tentacles and carried him away to be cloned by Stavos Keniclius 5. (TAS: "The Infinite Vulcan")
The animations for this creature were slightly modified for a Maravel dragon like creature and the mechanical sentinel. This one had the root-like appendages.
Although wings are clearly visible in the swooper's animated design, the novelization of "The Infinite Vulcan" (as published in Star Trek Log 2) specifically states that the creature had no wings, only the thick coils protruding from its body. The same adaptation also characterizes the swooper as being "a good twelve feet long."