Greater Roadrunner - A 'Kooky' Bird
Many of us grew up ‘learning’ about the unique bird called a roadrunner from TV cartoons. The real thing - the Greater Roadrunner - is an iconic species of the Southwest, including the Sonoran Desert. It is quite unique in its lifestyle, and its unusual behavior (in the bird world anyway) is no doubt why it became a popular cartoon figure. First of all, here is a recent image I shot of one right behind our house in the morning as I walked into the wash to photograph birds and other critters.
The Greater Roadrunner is in the Cuckoo family, and as the name implies, is almost always seen on the ground, although it can fly just fine when needed. It is FAST when running, and has to be due to its favorite menu item - lizards. Lizards are plentiful in the Sonoran Desert - both in number of species and numbers of individuals, and as such they are prey items for many predators. The Roadrunner is chief among them. Lizards are very watchful and very fast - especially the Zebra-tailed Lizard, which is everywhere in the sandy arroyo/wash behind our house. Yet Roadrunners catch them without much problem, and other species as well.
But other items are on the menu as well, and like most successful predators, the Roadrunner adapts to the situation at hand. We have a recycling ‘bubbler’ in our back yard to provide water for birds and other critters, and one of our local Roadrunners quickly decided this presented an opportunity. It (the genders are alike so I don’t know which it is) quickly figured out it could hide behind a short fence, wait for birds (mostly House Finches and Lesser Goldfinches) to be drinking or bathing and not paying enough attention, and then would streak out of hiding like a rocket and go for one of the birds. We have a motion-sensing camera in the yard, so every time this happened, we had a clear video record of it. It got four House Finches before the yard birds adapted their behavior and became more watchful. (Well, that and the fact that my wife has taken to going out and shooing the Roadrunner away when it’s hanging around. She doesn’t buy my logic that everybody has to eat.) For awhile, the Roadrunner even hid in the bushes under our hummingbird feeder and would jump up and attempt to grab the hummers. This wasn’t so successful, so that behavior didn’t continue.
Some goofy behavior seems to be part of the Roadrunner’s repertoire as well. Our neighbor had a Roadrunner visit his house on a daily basis when it was being constructed. The bird would come inside and wander around, looking for who knows what - bugs? - up until the house was built. And beyond. When the temperature is amenable, our neighbors leave their back patio doors open to the outside air. The Roadrunner then proceeded to come right into the house on a couple of occasions, and one time, they even found the bird relaxing in the front seat of their sports car convertible in the garage. Maybe it really wanted to go BEEP-BEEP as its alter ego was famous for.
It’s just really nice to have at least one of these entertaining birds around the neighborhood, although the lizard population suffers a bit as a result…!