Roadrunners are a common sight in the west and southwest, but, as New Mexico’s state bird, they are part of the regional narrative. We love our roadrunners. The formidable fowl is the ubiquitous symbol of the Southwest, made famous by animator Chuck Jones. However, the speed differential depicted in the cartoons was misrepresented. Coyotes are twice as fast as roadrunners.
Although capable of limited flight, roadrunners spend most of their time on the ground, with a normal ‘top speed’ of about 20 mph (32 km/hr). There have been cases of roadrunners reaching speeds as high as 26 mph (42 km/hr), which is the fastest running speed clocked for a flying bird. The bird they clocked at 26 mph may have been highly motivated to flee or, perhaps, it was the Usain Bolt of the roadrunner realm. Regardless, 26 mph is half the speed of an ostrich, which isn’t bad for a much smaller bird.
Small but Fierce
From beak to tail, roadrunners are approximately 2-feet long. They have evolved to thrive in the desert, deriving most of their moisture from prey. Rather than excreting fluids via kidneys or a urinary tract, they secrete a solution of concentrated salt through a gland in front of each eye.
Despite their benign backyard presence, roadrunners are vicious birds of prey. They kill their prey by bludgeoning their victims to death. They will eat virtually anything they can catch: insects, spiders (including black widows and tarantulas), scorpions, bats, mice, small birds (including hummingbirds), lizards, and small snakes (including venomous snakes, like small rattlers). After seeing Jurassic Park recently, I started seeing roadrunners as mini Velociraptors.
They are not shy. Once a roadrunners realizes that a human is not a threat, they can be quite social; seemingly as curious about humans as we are about them. A friend of mine was recently accompanied on her afternoon walk for about a 1/2 mile by a congenial roadrunner. She talked to it while passing. It decided to hang out. As the many photos in my personal collection attest, they are not the slightest bit camera shy, with a penchant for posing. Voguing Velociraptor?
Roadrunner Romance
Roadrunners mate for life. They renew their vows each spring with a series of elaborate courtship rituals. Typically, nesting sites are 3–10 feet off the ground. The shaded, well-concealed nests are often close to paths or stream beds, which the roadrunners use as a thoroughfare while collecting material for the nest and transporting food to hatchlings.
Males do most of the gathering, bringing materials to the female to construct the nest. The finished nests can be more than 17 inches diameter and 8 inches high, with about a 4 inch nest cup. They line the nests with leaves, grasses, sticks, feathers, flakes of manure, and snakeskin. The nests can be elaborate, but mating pairs reuse viable nests from prior seasons.
Roadrunner habitat is pretty much everywhere in the Southwestern United States, including areas dominated by creosote, mesquite, chaparral, and tamarisk, as well as grasslands, riparian woodlands and canyons. At higher elevations, roadrunners live in pinon-juniper woodlands and cholla grasslands. Over the years, they have been migrating, with roadrunners spotted as far north as Missouri.
For New Mexicans the roadrunner is a frequent sight, often becoming a familiar backyard buddy. For those from other parts of the world, who have never seen one, it is a real bird, but don’t let the cartoons fool you. The coyotes definitely have the edge in a foot race.
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