Posts Tagged ‘Roadrunners’

The Arizona Roadrunner

Beep Beep!  Everyone knows this local resident, either from the Saturday morning cartoons, or from seeing him zip across the road as we drive by. Just like in the cartoons, it can’t fly very far, but it can run up to 17 miles per hour.   This ground cuckoo is a fixture all over our state, and many people even believe they’re the state bird.  (They aren’t, it’s the Cactus Wren).

Roadrunners are fast and strong enough to catch and kill rattlesnakes, grabbing them by the tail and cracking their head against the ground like a whip, and they’re quick enough to grab a hummingbird or a dragonfly out of the air.  They typically eat their prey whole, and they sometimes will be seen with a snake dangling out of their beak,  eating it slowly over several days, as it digests.

In the deserts of Arizona, the Roadrunner will often mate twice a year, just prior to our early spring and late summer rainy seasons.  These large, crested birds make nests of twigs and grass in the low branches of trees and bushes.  After the eggs are laid, the male takes over and sits on the nest.   As the eggs begin to hatch, the smaller chicks are often eaten by their parents, until there are only 3 or 4 left.  The babies leave the nest after 18 days or so, and after a couple of weeks they go off into the desert to make their own way in the world.

And it’s a hard world for Roadrunners.  Coyotes really are one of their biggest predators, along with hawks, owls, bull snakes, rat snakes, skunks, and housecats, and in cold weather, many die from exposure.

The Roadrunner is a pretty secretive guy, so when you get a glimpse, be sure to take the time to watch them go about their business!

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Edited: February 1st, 2009