Greater Roadrunner Closeup — Sonoran Desert Images

Previously I posted an image of a Greater Roadrunner that I was lucky to get a photo op of while starting a walk in the wash behind our house. Since they tend to be leery of people, skulky - and run quite fast - I thought that was about the best shot of one I would be able to get. Then came yesterday, and one result was the image below.

I was in the wash and had seen two tiny birds (Verdin, a common desert species that I will do a post on soon) foraging in a mesquite tree. They are hard to get in the open and in constant motion so I stood motionless with the camera lying in wait. And waited, and waited, and never got an opportunity for a good shot. Disappointed, I turned around (fortunately slowly) and there no more than twenty feet behind me was a Roadrunner. It was concentrating so hard on finding a lizard or other prey item to eat that it ignored me completely - maybe it was a young bird…? The camera was already on, the settings were ok and I proceeded to shoot at least 30 images while the bird stealthily went about its hunting. After deciding there was nothing on the ground to catch, it silently hopped up in the tree it was near and started carefully working its way up the tree branches. Had I not seen it jump into the tree, I never would have known it was there. It was probably looking for nestling birds, or a nest with eggs (I assume they eat eggs - I know they hunt and eat small birds, so it seems logical).

So, for the first image I worked on from the series, I decided since the bird filled the entire frame being so close that I would crop in for a ‘headshot’. Usually I include some of the habitat that the bird is in, and show the entire bird. But I may never get another shot like the ones in this series, so I gave it a go.

From a distance, the bird looks pretty drab except for the splash of color above its eye, but as you can see here, there is quite a bit of color when you see it up close.