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A roadrunner! He comes by the front porch every morning. I was reaching for the camera but he took off to the side of the house. He was all fluffed out and looked like a mini turkey. :) He likes my neighbor's front porch too and strode back and forth in front of the french doors admiring himself. As I was cycling by their house, he watched me on the porch and then went down the stairs to follow me. Then he walked back up the stairs to watch me as I came back. What a funny bird. :D
Thanks for putting that song into my head.
I think of roadrunners as being in the desert southwest.
They are all over central Texas but I didn't think in Sun's neck of the woods. I love them because they slay rattlers if hungry. I never saw one until I was about 20, my favorite was seeing one mountain biking. Just moving along at a slow pace in some oaks, he was chillin'. :cool:
I have one that attacks his/her reflection on the brass kick plate on my front door. Meep Meep.
Your Roadrunner sounds very cool! You should capture him on tape, and share his antics with us!
That is so cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by sundial
Would love to see a pic if he lets you get one.:)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...roadrunner.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...unnerplume.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...runnerbrrr.jpg
I love that last pic--he looks like a penguin with a long tail. :)
This is so neat! Do you plan to feed him at all? I'd love to have a roadrunner as a friend! Thanks for showing us photos of him.
He does!Quote:
Originally Posted by sundial
Kjay, I don't know what he eats. I'll have to research it. :)
Don't they eat snakes and other creepy-crawlies?
Toss him a rattlesnake. :D
Love the pics! After mockingbirds, roadrunners are my fave. We have 'em all over the place down here.
Awe, what a sweet lil critter of nature. We don't have those here. I love nature, animals, and feeding my fine feathered friends. In the midwest frozen winters water is VERY hard for the birds to find. My flying babies even have a heated bird bath I supply year round. It's amazing. No matter how bad the temps, the unit performs like a champ (only 1" deep H20 also). It draws even more birds because you are the main stash of it all. If you figure out what he eats, put out a very shallow dish of water. He might be thrilled. Thx for sharing those pics:).
What a cool bird! Thanks for sharing!
Yipee!
I was hoping you would get some pics of this cute guy. I have only seen a roadrunner in books before this post (well I have seen the roadrunner cartoon too:D).
Thanks Sundial for sharing.:)
What does a roadrunner sound like? I assume it does not go me meep like the cartoon.
Trekhawk, I wasn't sure if the pics would turn out because of the lens I was using--and the fact I wasn't using the tripod. :o I was pleasantly surprised to see the detail in the photos. He is such an interesting guy. I haven't heard him make any sounds yet. He was jumping on bugs when I watched him in the yard. Didn't see him today but I'll put out more seed and water. :)
You did well Sundial. I have no camera skills so lucky it was not up to me to get the shots.:oQuote:
Originally Posted by sundial
Hope you get to see some more of this cute guy.
That is great! So glad you got a picture of it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trekhawk
Cornell's All About Birds sight had an audio file with the call of a roadrunner.
I don't know how to insert just the audio file, but here's the link to the page. See the multimedia file on the right column, a bit below the picture.
(I thought they went "meep meep!" too! :cool:
That's a nice site.
I surely would have thought that was a dove.
Those are great pictures. They are awsome birds too. We have them here in the Southwest USA. Sometimes I see them when I am on walks or rides. I have never been able to get close enough to take pics though. So good work!
Red Rock
That's cool! (I can't believe you still had snow on the ground. It will be gone tomorrow, I'll bet.)
Karen
Thanks for the link. Yep definitely no "meep meep" .:DQuote:
Originally Posted by 7rider
Thanks 7Rider, I wouldn't have thought the roadrunner sounded like a dove. I really like Cornell's ornithology department. When I was researching pics of the ivory billed woodpecker they were very helpful. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by 7rider
Here's some facts from the Cornell website:
I've had several little yellow finches hanging around the feeder as well as water. Hope Peet doesn't help himself to the all you can eat birdie buffet. :eek:Quote:
Cool Facts
The Greater Roadrunner can reach running speeds of 30 km/hr (18.6 mi/hr). It holds its head and tail flat and parallel to the ground when running at its top speed.
To warm up after a cold desert night, a roadrunner will turn its back to the sun, fluff its back feathers, and expose skin along its back. This skin is black in order to absorb more solar energy.
The Greater Roadrunner eats many venomous prey items, including scorpions, spiders, and rattlesnakes. Two birds may cooperate to kill a large snake.
The Greater Roadrunner is an opportunistic forager. It frequently captures small birds at bird feeders and nest boxes. One was observed to leap up from hiding in a dry riverbed and knock down a low-flying White-throated Swift. :eek:
The desert-dwelling roadrunner uses salt glands in front of its eyes to excrete excess salt from its blood. Such glands are common in ocean-going birds that can drink seawater. The roadrunner is able to get along without drinking water if it eats food with high enough water content, but it will drink readily if water is available.
doesn't sound like birdseed is what he wants. Try suet instead. They are carnivorous so fat would be a real treat especially this time of year.
Thanks Mimi, I'll go to town and get suet.
They rarely stay still long enough to get such great shots!We have one or two lurking in the undeveloped section of the neighborhood. I think they may be one of my favorite native critters, so fast too! We also have a couple foxes just outside the neighborhood, I always see them near the old man's house with the chickens but he has consistently had 6 chickens so I guess the foxes haven't gotten them as I would expect.
So I drove up to Horseshoe Canyon Ranch, where my bike club was having a training camp (and rock climbing, woot!). It's a long rough gravel road into the canyon, and the canyon floor was covered with sheep, goats and horses. I'm gazing out over the flocks while I slowly come down the road and out of the corner of my eye something STREAKS right in front of my car, and lands on the other side in the grass. A roadrunner.
First one I've seen in years and years. It was cool. I thought of y'all. :)
Karen
Where's Horshoe Canyon Ranch?? Sounds like my kind of place to play.
It's outside of Jasper (remember Dogpatch?). Jasper is south of Harrison on Hwy 7.
Karen
Too cool. Up until now, the only "road runner" I'd seen was the one my dad brought back from a vacation (it wasn't real... it was wooden :rolleyes:). It sat on our mantle for years! He never made a sound, by the way!:p
Yours is actually a cute little bugger. Who knew he'd be so deadly? Good to keep around the house from the sounds of things, as long as your bird feeders are WAY up high.
I made the mistake (only once) of feeding the birds on a flat surface not covered. It took all but 20 minutes for me to find a falcon feeding on one of the poor little birds I had baited for him. That was awful. Beautiful falcon, though. As soon as he had, well, finished his meal, I headed out and cleaned up all the birdseed in the area and hid it into a feeder under the covered porch areas. Lesson well learned the hard way.
Thanks for sharing your great photos!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...crew/Peet1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...crew/Peet2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...etdriveway.jpg
Peet walked right in front of my storm door and called out. I grabbed the camera and headed outside not knowing how many, if any, pictures I was going to get. He surprised me with quite a show! He was calling and I was talking back to him and he came within 25 feet of me. :cool:
what beautiful pictures, epic, in fact!
Mimi, I can just see you do a watercolor study of him. He has such interesting colors. :cool:
Oooh!
That eyeshadow is spectacular!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...eetcloseup.jpg
Detail of his head. It's magnificent!
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...eettalking.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...eetrunning.jpg
Calling out and searching for a fellow roadrunner
Very cool pics! Roadrunners are fascinating birds, we had one that hung out in our driveway in Tucson, he (she?) was a hoot to watch.
I like Peet on the rocks, very cool. I wonder why he is so mellow, they never seem to stick around here?
I do too, Aggie. I've never seen a roadrunner that let's me get as close to him. He's not afraid of our dogs either.
Peet is a big bird. His body is about the size of a cornish hen! :eek:
Pax, did you get very close to your roadrunner? :)
About six feet was as close as we got. Our house sat on an arroyo so I think we were in his hunting grounds, he would drink from the garden hose if I let it drip a little, since he came by around the same time each day I tried to always let it drip a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by sundial
Oooh, I hope I can get that close to him. We've been separated by glass when he does get that close.