Road runners are New Mexico's state bird, and are sometimes called a chaparral cock. And they run fast too!
If you're ever driving through the south-western desert regions of the United States or Mexico and happen to see an olive and brown coloured bird with a long beak and a distinctive crest on its head streaking off into the horizon, you'd be correct in assuming it's a roadrunner. Native to Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Lousiana, Arizona, Colorado,
California and also parts of southern Mexico, this odd-looking member of the cuckoo family is indeed the bird Hollywood animators modelled their famous "roadrunner" after. But unlike the cartoon character who spends his every on-screen moment outsmarting and outrunning a very determined coyote, a real roadrunner's typical day is spent foraging for food and avoiding his own short list of predators. There's rarely any hungry coyotes on that list, though. Why? The speedy birds simply aren't a very satisfying meal for coyotes so they rarely bother chasing one down.
A roadrunner goes by a few other names like the "Chaparral Cock" or "ground cuckoo" and is the official state bird of New Mexico. He grows to about the size of a scrawny chicken (7-10 ounces) and sports a short ruffled plume on the top of his head that makes him look like he's having a bad hair day. He has a bluish patch of skin circling his eyes and his legs are long and spindly and also have a bluish tinge. He's got quite the magnificent tail that's close to the same length as his body and which he holds horizontally when running full tilt. The roadrunner's feet are somewhat different than others bird species in that they have 2 toes in front and 2 in the back. Bird enthusiasts who have tracked a roadrunner say his footprints look exactly like a spread X making them easily identifiable. The bird's somewhat drab colouring helps him blend easily into his natural habitat of flat desert or prairie, sagebrush, chaparral and various other types of desert scrub.
When danger is present the roadrunner will emit mandibular clicks or clatters and then usually dash off in a terrific burst of speed that's been clocked between 10-20 miles per hour. Unlike his cartoon counterpart, however, a real roadrunner tires quickly and utilises these fast spurts of speed only as an escape mechanism or to catch equally speedy prey like lizards and snakes.
A roadrunner will hunt and eat just about anything available and swallowable from insects like grasshoppers and scorpions to small rodents, lizards and snakes. He'll even prey on other smaller bird species, catching them by leaping high into the air and then snaring them with his long beaks. Rattlesnakes are also a favourite on the menu and roadrunners are very adept at catching them. Again, the bird uses its large, blunt beak to pound the snake to death and then swallow it, headfirst. If the snake is large this process can take several hours.
Male roadrunners attract a female with a series of repetitive coos and an elaborate mating ritual. Once a male has chosen his perfect mate the pair will stay together for their entire life span which can encompass 7-10 years. If a breeding year is favourable the roadrunners might rear two sets of young, the female laying from 3-6 eggs in a shallow nest built on the ground made from twigs and other dry material. Sometimes she chooses to construct her nest in a small, easily accessible tree or in a cluster of cactus. Eggs are laid intermittently and both male and female share incubating duties. It's not uncommon to see new baby chicks and unhatched eggs in a roadrunner's nest at the same time. Coyotes, snakes, and hawks target the nests and will prey on the eggs,the young nestlings and adolescents. During hard years roadrunners have been known to eat their own young to survive.
So you see, real roadrunners are somewhat different in nature than the beep-beeping caricature we watch on Saturday morning cartoons. There is one thing he does have in common with his one-dimensional counterpart however -- a real roadrunner definitely runs fast and if you see one and then blink you might miss him as he zips off in a cloud of dust across the parched desert floor.
