Pree: Hey Mom, Hey Dad, I met a guy named Charlie today that has Roadrunners in his yard!

MOM: What a lucky guy! What did Charlie say about them?

PREE: He said he watched them mating and feeding the chicks. After about a month they were hunting a lot on their own. They start out with slow moving prey like thrashers and quail, then concentrate on lizards and house sparrows. If they continue to beg, the parent will smack them around a little until they go off on their own. They stick around until the second clutch hatches. The adults can snag a sparrow from over 15 feet away before the sparrow can get off the ground.

DAD: Charlie must be very observant and patient to see all that!

PREE: I see Roadrunners now and then, but they run away before I can take a photo. I need to learn some of that patience.

MOM: Did he hear them beep?

PREE: He said they have many vocalizations, but no beep-beep. The call is a descending cuckoo.

DAD: I think all those myths about Roadrunners began with stories cowboys told each other. The cartoon kept the stories going.

PREE: You mean the Roadrunner doesn't always outwit the coyote?

MOM: Not always. Roadrunners are hunted by coyotes, but more often Red-tailed Hawks, Cooper's Hawks and Ravens. Even raccoons, skunks, and snakes occasionally sneak up on them.

PREE: Do they eat anything but animals?

DAD: They sometimes eat berries if available.

PREE: How fast can they run?

MOM: 15-20 miles per hour. They don't fly very often.

PREE: What about that long tail. What does that contribute?

DAD: It's like the Cheetah tail - it helps the Roadrunners balance when they make those quick turns.

PREE: My bird book says Roadrunners are in the Cuckoo family.

MOM: Does your book say that Roadrunners lay eggs in other birds' nests?

PREE: The book says cuckoos in Europe are nest parasites i.e. lay eggs in other birds' nests, but in California the Yellow-billed Cuckoo rarely does and the Roadrunner almost never lays eggs in other birds' nests.

DAD: The only bird I know that does that is the Brown-headed Cowbird. The cuckoos' eggs actually start developing before they are laid so that they are bigger and are given more food than the nest mates.

PREE: They have feet like woodpeckers. What's up with that?

MOM; I guess that's going to be your research project!

PREE: I'll get right on it and let you know!

Listen to a Road Runner

Photo courtesy of Charlie Kaiser

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