Oddly enough, there are people out there who don’t know that roadrunners are a real animal. They think it’s only a cartoon character named because it is always running on the road. After you get them to realize it’s real, you then have to explain that they run on more than roads. Also, that they aren’t the size of a coyote. Let’s just say I’ve had a few lengthy conversations in the past about this one.
Roadrunners come in two species. You have the Greater Roadrunner found in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Then, you have the Lesser Roadrunner found in Mexico and Central America. They are part of a larger subfamily of birds called New World ground cuckoos, which are birds primarily found in the Americas and tend to stay on the ground. Keep in mind that roadrunners aren’t flightless. They can fly, but they prefer to run away from predators at about 20-27 mph.
There is no risk to the roadrunner. They are not endangered or even at risk of becoming so. That means you can probably see one if you go into their desert habitat. Of course, the territory of the Greater and Lesser Roadrunners don’t overlap. So, you won’t find them together. Probably for the best since they would be competing with each other. Now, how about some facts?
- Roadruners have long tail feathers to help them maintain balance when running.
- They are omnivores with around 10% of their diet being plants. The rest of their diet consists of snakes (including venomous ones), scorpions, lizards, frogs, other birds, and small mammals.
- Living in deserts, they get their water from the food that they eat. Their digestive system is efficient enough to pull the water out of their food.
- Roadrunners are not afraid of humans. They have no problem approaching a human out of curiosity.
- They mate for life and start with a courtship ritual. This includes an initial chase, giving of food gifts by the male, giving of non-food gifts by both, cooing noises, and the male waving his tail feather as well as leaping into the air.
- Both parents take turns incubating the eggs.
- When nights get too cold, a roadrunner will go into a state of torpor. This drops their body temperature to conserve energy. They revive themselves by sunbathing in the morning.
- Coyotes are actually faster than roadrunners and routinely catch them as prey.
- Roadrunner feet have two toes pointed forward and two pointing back. This gives them better grip for running and climbing.
- Young roadrunners will begin running and catching prey at 3 weeks old.
- They are the only predator of the tarantula hawk wasp.
- Some Native American tribes see the roadrunner as a sign of good luck and health. They are also called ‘medicine birds’.
Pictures and videos time. No, I’m not going to include the cartoon.
Greater Roadrunner
Greater Roadrunner
Lesser Roadrunner
Lesser Roadrunner
Legends of Windemere 
I didn’t know roadrunners were real till another blogger wrote about them not long ago. I love watching them, no wonder they inspired a cartoon character.
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I can definitely see why someone would want to use them as inspiration.
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While travelling in Arizona, we encountered more than one road runner, on the road! Some great information about these incredible birds. (I always knew the cartoon was based on a real animal, aren’t they all?)
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Guess cartoons back then all had real world sources.
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They’d are odd looking things, but fun to watch. The Plymouth Roadrunner is faster than a coyote.
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Be surprised if they never used the characters for a commercial.
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I think they did.
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I think they’re beautiful. I remember the first time I saw one, in Albuquerque; it was literally too fast for me to photograph with my point-and-shoot camera.
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That’s cool. I’ve actually never seen one in real life.
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When we lived in the Irvine, CA, area many years ago and worked at UC Irvine, we used to see them running in groups up and down the road near the medical school!
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That had to be fun to watch.
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It’s a great memory!
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Interesting that there really is a predator/prey relationship between roadrunners and coyotes.
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And that it’s the opposite of the cartoon.
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Thanks, Charles. i enjoyed this post. I have seen roadrunner herein Texas and they are always a surprise running on the road.
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Hope they’re careful about avoiding cars.
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I think they are pretty good at that.
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
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Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Always a pleasure to spread animal posts, Charles 😃
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Got some good ones coming up the next two weekends. 🙂
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GREAT 😃
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Interesting, Charles. I did know that roadrunners are real birds, but that’s the limit of my knowledge. At least, it was. Now I’m much better informed. Thank you.
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You’re welcome.
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Brilliant birds. I’ve not been lucky enough to see one, but then travelling through their terrain on a Greyhound or an Amtrak service is not conducive to birdwatching! (Gosh, those were a long time ago!)
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True. Buses don’t give you a chance to really enjoy the scenery.
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More interesting facts about them (they frequent us in our hilltop home in New Mexico). The male Greater ones here have a “racing stripe” on the temple. It may be blue or orange. It’s bare skin–not feathers. They are serious predators and like looking into the house or their own reflection (darker inside than out). One jumped on a table outside ours indoor one–hitting the window three times, two days in a row; with a lizard in its mouth. A couple days later, we heard noise on the roof or the gutter and saw him again this time with a least chipmunk (very small–maybe less than an infant’s hand). Sad–we like the cute little chipmunks that are numerous on and around our outdoor furniture and share bird seed with the many birds.
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Thanks for the info. I read about the predator thing. For some reason, I thought that would be common knowledge.
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Oh, it is–not something we had seen much of until recently.
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