Dianne L Stallings

Ruidoso News

A ground-running, meat-eating throwback tosome ancient ancestor, the roadrunner is New Mexico's state bird. The roadrunner prefers running to flying and has been clocked at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour.

About 22 inches in length, a roadrunner's diet consists of insects, lizards, small birds, scorpions, centipedes, mice and snakes. Venomous serpents, including small rattlesnakes,also are on the menu. The roadrunner kills prey by holding the victim in its bill and slamming it repeatedly against the ground.

A long-legged bird in the cuckoo family found in the southwestern United States and Mexico, the Latin name means "Californian earth-cuckoo," but the bird also is known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer.



The greater roadrunner nests on a platform of sticks low in a cactus or a bush and lays 3 to 6 eggs that hatch in 20 days. The chicks fledge in another 18 days.

A male roadrunner's call sounds like a series of "coos" or a delicate rattle, while the female can be more insistent. Roadrunners have four toes on each foot; two face forward and two face backward. Although capable of limited flight, it spends most of its time on the ground