Officially adopted March 16, 1949, the Roadrunner became the state bird of New Mexico. It was adopted under the name “Chaparral Bird,” and in Spanish, it is called “El Correcaminos.”

[ad#Google Adsense]Oddly enough, the Roadrunner actually looks somewhat like the Warner Brothers cartoon version we’ve all grown up loving, and it is almost as fast as its cartoon namesake. This comical critter prefers running to flying and has been clocked at speeds of 20 miles per hour. A member of the cuckoo family, Roadrunners are roughly 22 inches in length. The adult has a bushy crest and long thick dark bill. It has a long dark tail, a dark head and back, and is pale on the front of the neck and on the belly. Roadrunners have four toes on each foot; two face forward, and two face backward.

Found throughout the Mojave, Sonoran, Chihuahuan and southern Great Basin deserts of the southwest, the Roadrunner inhabits open, flat or rolling terrain with scattered cover of dry brush, chaparral or other desert scrub.

When spring arrives, the male Roadrunner entices the female with choice morsels of food. The male dances around the female tantalizing her with his tidbits and eventually they mate. Both parents collect small sticks used for building a shallow, saucer-like nest, although it is the female that actually constructs the nest in a bush, cactus or small tree. She then lays from 2 to 12 white eggs over a period of 3 days, which results in staggered hatching. Incubation is from 18-20 days and is done by either parent, though preferably the male, because the nocturnally incubating males maintain normal body temperature. In the Sonoran and Mojave deserts where there is only one rainy season, roadrunners nest in Spring, when food is abundant. In the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, they breed again in August or September after summer rains increase their food sources.

The diet of the roadrunner is quite varied. The bird runs down its prey, which includes insects, small reptiles, rodents, scorpions, snakes and small birds (especially the eggs of Gambel’s Quail). The bird is actually quick enough to catch and consume small rattlesnakes, or snatch hummingbirds or dragonflies out of the air! It rounds out its diet with seeds and fruits.

Roadrunner Fun Facts:

It reabsorbs all the water from its feces before excreting it (a neat water-saving technique that allows it to live in the dry climates it prefers).

Rather than eliminating excess salt through its urine like most birds, the roadrunner’s nasal gland performs that function.

It makes a series of 6 to 8, low, dovelike coos dropping in pitch, as well as a clattering sound by rolling its mandibles together.