The legendary roadrunner is famous for its distinctive appearance, its ability to eat rattlesnakes and fast enough to catch a hummingbird and as you have seen on TV cartoons, frustrate coyotes.

The roadrunner is a large, black-and-white, mottled ground bird with a distinctive head crest. It has strong feet, a long, white-tipped tail and an oversized bill.It ranges in length from 20 to 24 inches from the tip of its tail to the end of its beak. It is a member of the Cuckoo family (Cuculidae), characterized by feet with 2 forward toes and 2 behind.

When the roadrunner senses danger or is traveling downhill, it flies, revealing short, rounded wings with a white crescent. But it cannot keep its large body airborne for more than a few seconds, and so prefers walking or running (up to 17 miles per hour) usually with a clownish gait.
The first photo is of a young male, the others are female.

[Bob Harris]

Fantastic shots, Bob! I've never seen one of these birds. I've never seen most of what you post!! LOL Your photos are an education to this east coaster.

Thanks Lori, glad you enjoyed the view. I saw a Horny Toad, but he went into the bushes before I could get a photo, they are a cool lizard. Hope to get a photo of one while we are here.

[Bob Harris]

arrrh... they don't make'em like that any more (cartoons that is) nicely captured, particularly like #3, seems to be checking you out, maybe making sure that's not an ACME branded camera with some trickery involved.

cheers
CC.

They are very curious birds, what I did was drop my lens cover on the ground and she stopped and took a quick look to see if it was something to eat. I bet you are right about the ACME brand though.

[Bob Harris]

It's a nice surprise to see that these birds actually exist! Thanks for showing.

Remco, these are pretty common in the s/w deserts of the US and of course who can forget his buddy Wile E. Coyote, I will try and get a photo of one while in the area. Thanks for looking and commenting.

[Bob Harris]

Super photos. I don't think I've ever seen a photo of a real one.

But how do we know these are real? I can see it's legs, the real Road Runner's legs on TV were just a circular blur when running.

Seriously, these are good photos, thanks.

Thank you so much for the kind comments, these birds are hard to photograph and when they run their legs do blur up a bit, but of course not as good as on TV, I will try and get a bird that is in a full run and post.Take care, Bob

[Nick]

Another ex- non-believer converted! Now I know yes, there are real roadrunner, and Bob has photographed them

[cardinal43]

You know, Bob, I don't know that I've ever seen a pic of an actual roadrunner - great shots.

Jer

You mean the one in the cartoons isn't real????

[vonBaloney]

We used to see them all the time in Albuquerque. They are goofy birds -- they seem to like putting on a show.

[Bob Harris]

Great photos Bob. I never seen one in person myself. The first one looks fast just standind still!

CJ, this is a bird that is fun to follow if you can keep up with them. They do some funny things and are so curious, glad you liked the photos and thanks.

[Bob Harris]

Nice shots! I had a close relationship with a roadrunner. I lived (voluntarily) in 29 Stumps CA. (It used to be 29 Palms but careless motorists knocked them over, now they're just stumps, ha ha.) I lived in a tiny cinderblock house across Utah Trail from the (then) Joshua Tree National Monument headquarters at the Oasis of Mara (little water). Hot summer days got hot and stayed hot. I slept on the shack's flat roof. Just before dawn every day, a roadrunner left the Oasis, ran across the road and through the cactus garden in front of my house, jumped up on my tiny front porch cover, ran across the roof (and me), hopped down on my hot-water heater and down to ground, then ran east out into the open desert. I had a live BEEP-BEEP alarm clock every morning.

'
Great story Rico, I bet he thought you were Wile E. Coyote and enjoyed playing with you each morning.

[Bob Harris]

Another ex- non-believer converted! Now I know yes, there are real roadrunner, and Bob has photographed them

When I was taking photos of the birds, some campers from Edmonton who are at our RV park, came over to me and ask what the birds were, They had never seen one in person and thought they were fake. Glad I was able to convert you.

[Bob Harris]

You mean the one in the cartoons isn't real????

Please, can someone break the bad news to Tom.

[Bob Harris]

We used to see them all the time in Albuquerque. They are goofy birds -- they seem to like putting on a show.

You can certainly see why they became a cartoon character, goofy is a great description.

[vonBaloney]

You can certainly see why they became a cartoon character, goofy is a great description.

They are actually the state bird of New Mexico, so they must be real.

[Rupert]

Some really nice ones Bob! We have one around here, but I can never seem to get a decent shot of him....those are very good, I enjoyed!
Regards!

BTW- A friend of mine got some shots of Roadrunner babies a few years ago......they nest in Mesquite trees around here, and the babies are precious....teeny-tiny but look just like the adults!

[Bob Harris]

Some really nice ones Bob! We have one around here, but I can never seem to get a decent shot of him....those are very good, I enjoyed!
Regards!

BTW- A friend of mine got some shots of Roadrunner babies a few years ago......they nest in Mesquite trees around here, and the babies are precious....teeny-tiny but look just like the adults!

Rupert, Terri and I were just talking the other night that we had seen all of the other baby birds, quail, dove, raven etc., but have never seen any of the roadrunners. Keep that camera handy so you can show us what a Texas roadrunner looks like, probably bigger than the ones in CA.