I'm pretty sure that Duolingo one is photoshopped. The mascot's name is "Duo", not "Language Bird." (The image, however, is what you get if you get too many words wrong: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bc9NiTxCUAA1Qek.png)
If I understand it right, the emails are trying to convince you to practice... as one needs to, when learning a language. That's like the only acceptable reason to annoy/spam people, "COME ON JOHNNNN, WHEN YOU GONNA PRACTICE YOUR SPANISH LIKE YOU SAID YOU WERE GONNA"