Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Well-named Roadrunner


Some birds are poorly named. Many a birder has complained about this and I've blogged about this topic before

Every now and then it's good to be reminded why certain birds are named the way they are. 
Take the greater roadrunner for example. Recently I encountered one on Blue Sky Road outside of Willcox, Arizona. This bird was skulking along in the thick mesquite along the road and then seemed to realize that I was the editor of a major birding magazine—or perhaps he just wanted to help me come up with a fun blog post. Either way, he obliged me by actually running down the road.


Now that I think about it, maybe he thought I was a wily coyote, chasing him in a rental car.

Roadrunners are kismet birds. You can't simply say "I want to see a roadrunner," and then go find one. In fact, the harder you look for one, the more elusive they seem to be. They just pop up, unannounced, give you a quick look or two, and scamper off into the brush.

Or on down the road.

6 comments:

  1. I got my first roadrunner at Falcon Dam. I heard him before I saw him and I stalked him until, as you said, he popped out. I got a pretty decent picture of him and was thrilled to get to see him. They are neat birds.

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  2. When we moved to SW MO in April, I never dreamed they'd have roadrunners here, so imagine my surprise when two of those strange birds ran across our lawn. We see them off and on all over around here. You're right, though, they're very elusive and never seem to pop out when I have a camera handy.

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  3. This begs the age old question,Why did the Roadrunner cross the road?? To get to the other side of coarse!

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  4. The first roadrunner I ever saw was on a golf course in Arizona. The reason I remember it was because it was an albino

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  5. We have roadrunners that have lived at our home in East Texas for several years now. I have numerous photos of them as they are in our yard just about every day.

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