The Iconic Roadrunner
One of the most well-known birds in North America, the road runner was an iconic symbol to humans long before the animated antics of Looney Tunes brought them into mainstream popularity.
The roadrunner was designated the official state bird of New Mexico in 1949. Also called the chaparral bird, the roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) inhabits desert and shrubby country in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
The roadrunner generally ranges in size from 18 to 22 in (46 to 56 cm) from tail to beak. The average weight is about 8–15 oz (230–430 g).[7] The roadrunner is a large, slender, black-brown and white-streaked ground bird with a distinctive head crest. It has long legs, strong feet, and an oversized dark bill. The tail is broad with white tips on the three outer tail feathers. The bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye; this patch is shaded blue anterior to red posterior. The lesser roadrunner is slightly smaller, not as streaky, and has a smaller bill.
They Know How to Confuse Their Attackers
Hopi and Pueblo tribes revered roadrunners as medicine birds that could ward off malicious spirits with unique X-shaped footprints made by their zygodactyl feet (meaning they have two toes in front and two in the back). These prints make it impossible to tell which direction the bird travels, this confusing any would be attackers. The speed of roadrunners and their bravery in devouring rattlesnakes further added their high regard among native peoples.
With these characteristics, the roadrunner was ideal candidate for the cast of Looney Tunes, although Warner Brothers took several creative liberties in their depictions. Coyotes are a predator of roadrunners, but wouldn’t have to resort to rockets and traps to catch one in real life. Roadrunners can easily outrun most humans with their top speed at 20 mph but coyotes can run twice as fast. Good thing road runners have no problem flying when they need to escape danger—they just prefer ground transportation most of the time.
Call of the Roadrunner Isn't What it Seems
The call of the roadrunner is a far cry from the “beep beep” of its animated counterpart; in reality they make a soft, dove-like “coo” call and will use its beak to make a rapid clattering sound. The origin of the animated roadrunner’s taunt started with a background painter at Warner Brothers who would call out “beep beep” while carrying large canvases through hallways on set, who were unable to see him and was warning people to get out of the way.
This isn’t to say that real world roadrunners are any less remarkable. They’ve adapted to harsh desert climates through thermoregulation techniques, such as secreting concentrated salt through a gland in front of each eye, which conserves more water than if they excreted liquid through urination. On hot days, they flutter the unfeathered area beneath their chin to cool down and on cold nights they enter a state of torpor, lowering their heart rate and metabolism to the minimum needed for survival, to retain heat.
What little moisture they consume comes primarily from the blood of their prey. Opportunistic carnivores, roadrunner will eat anything that crawls or slithers along the ground. From insects like beetles and spiders, reptiles like snakes and lizards, to even tarantula and smaller birds, they’re not picky when it comes to supper. The roadrunner is not intimated by the scorpion’s stinger or the fang of a rattlesnake, even though they don’t have the immunity to the deadly venom. Roadrunners risk life and wind for a meal on a regular basis and are the only known predators of the tarantula hawk, and insect with the most painful sting in the world.
Roadrunners Mate for Life
When they aren’t doing battle with these most dangerous reptiles and insects of the desert, the roadrunner can be found with its partner raising their young together. They’re monogamous and can mate for life, with both parents taking turns feeling young and protecting the nest. A male roadrunner will attract a female with a courtship display by offering a gift like a tasty morsel of food. Once the hatchlings are 3 weeks old, the family will forage for food together until their off-spring go off on their own.
Roadrunners are uncommonly common in New Mexico. You can hike around their territory for hours without seeing one, then they one may pop up in your driveway when you get home. They’re not typically found in the northern reaches of the state, but it isn’t unheard of for a lucky birdwatcher to spot one dashing through the sage. Roadrunners are known in ornithological circles as being the bird most comfortable around human. Considering they consume lethal prey for breakfast. It’s not surprising that people don’t scare them!
Adapted from “The Bird is the Word” by Bryce Flanagan
