Friday’s Feathered Friends- Greater Roadrunner

Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, Nature, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , ,

Copyright ©2025 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last month about a week before Thanksgiving I went on a quick road trip to Las Vegas/Henderson with a girl-friend. She was wanting to see her parents who live in Vegas, and I was wanting to go to Henderson which is just 20 minutes south of downtown Vegas to do some birding. So we got a plan together and went. While she was hanging out with her parents I was birding at the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve. I was hoping to see the Long-tailed Duck that is back this winter, alas, I did not see it, but I had a fantastic meeting with a Greater Roadrunner.

I was walking up a path and turned a corner and there it was standing in the middle of the path. I stopped. It jumped back and looked at me. There we stood eyeing each other up. When it was apparent it wasn’t going to flee and be flighty I started making photographs of it. After a minute it approached me! I backed up to keep it in my focal range. It was too close!!! Such a problem to have right? 😂 This profile is the best image I made showing its colorful skin behind its eye. The colors say Southwest to me.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Greater Roadrunner

I didn’t back up enough because as you see I nearly cut off his feet!

Here it is showing me its lovely long tail.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//:circadianreflections.com
Greater Roadrunner- I backed up more for to make this image.

I can’t tell if it is a male or female. I do know it’s an adult though. It stayed on the path walking back and forth in front of me, and crossing the path from side to side for nearly 5 minutes! I have quite a few images of it. I think it must have had a nest nearby guarding it perhaps? Anyway, I figured I’d better get moving and let the Roadrunner get back to doing whatever it does. I thanked it for such a lovely encounter and as quietly as I could walked up the path then when the Roadrunner thought I was too close it darted into the bushes.

That was only the 3rd Roadrunner I’ve ever seen and by far the best encounter with one ever!

Fun Facts: Gleaned from AllAboutBirds.org

    • For a generation of Americans, the familiar “beep, beep” of Warner Brothers’ cartoon Roadrunner was the background sound of Saturday mornings. Despite the cartoon character’s perennial victories over Wile E. Coyote, real-life coyotes present a real danger. The mammals can reach a top speed of 43 miles an hour—more than twice as fast as roadrunners.
    • Roadrunners have evolved a range of adaptations to deal with the extremes of desert living. Like seabirds, they secrete a solution of highly concentrated salt through a gland just in front of each eye, which uses less water than excreting it via their kidneys and urinary tract. Moisture-rich prey including mammals and reptiles supply them otherwise-scarce water in their diet. Both chicks and adults flutter the unfeathered area beneath the chin (gular fluttering) to dissipate heat.
    • Greater Roadrunners eat poisonous prey, including venomous lizards and scorpions, with no ill effect, although they’re careful to swallow horned lizards head-first with the horns pointed away from vital organs. Roadrunners can also kill and eat rattlesnakes, often in tandem with another roadrunner: as one distracts the snake by jumping and flapping, the other sneaks up and pins its head, then bashes the snake against a rock. If it’s is too long to swallow all at once, a roadrunner will walk around with a length of snake still protruding from its bill, swallowing it a little at a time as the snake digests.
    • Based on banding records, the oldest roadrunner was at least 7 years old.
    • Roadrunners hold a special place in Native American and Mexican legends and belief systems. The birds were revered for their courage, strength, speed, and endurance. The roadrunner’s distinctive X-shaped footprint—with two toes pointing forward and two backward—are used as sacred symbols by Pueblo tribes to ward off evil. The X shape disguises the direction the bird is heading, and is thought to prevent evil spirits from following.

Isn’t that folklore about its X shaped footprint interesting! I didn’t know that until I read the fun facts. 😊

I hope you all have a lovely week-end. Beep, beep!

more to come…

56 thoughts on “Friday’s Feathered Friends- Greater Roadrunner”

  1. Beautiful photos captured here. I also enjoyed learning more about these roadrunners, because to be honest a lot of what I “learned” to-date was from the cartoons. They sound like they are built for their environment, and in particular those x-shape footprints leave their mark in more ways than one.

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    1. Thank you so much, Teagan! I think WP has dropped you from my following list again. I haven’t received a note saying you’ve posted anything in some time. I’ve resubscribed once already some weeks back. I’ll have to follow up on that and make sure you’re still on my list! I hope you and the kitties have a lovely Holiday season! 😊🤗

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  8. Yes, that IS interesting about the X-shaped footprint, Deborah. I so enjoyed reading about your sweet encounter with the roadrunner, and your photos are grand. Despite decades of birding, I have seen this beautiful species less than 10 times, so I understand your delight and share it.

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    1. Thank you so much, Jet! I will be looking at Native American art and pottery looking for that X in the future. They are elusive birds aren’t they. I’m so glad you’ve seen them too. I hope we continue to get a sighting of them now and again.

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  11. I see these from time to time in the hill country, but I’ve never had such a close encounter. The photos show those lovely details so well. This one does seem smaller than any I’ve seen, and more fluffed up with a shorter tail. Of course, the ones I see usually are pretty streamlined, and on the run to somewhere else! A friend in the hill country used to have one as a sort of pet. She fed it slices of raw beef out of her hand; her kids always griped that the bird got steak while they had to make do with hamburger.

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  15. What is wonderful encounter Deborah! It is frustrating when the subject comes too close. I would have loved to have been with you in that moment as I favour that intelligent bird above most others in your country. Thanks f sharing your God gift moment as I call them 😊

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  17. Beep beep! When I was a child we had the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons on televison. So the sound is very well known over here. The fun facts reveal a lot! The bird isn’t really the fun loving and sweet natured animal I thought it would be. No! It’s intelligent, social, fierce, and not scrupulous at all. Never underestimate a roadrunner. I remember our mutual blog pal rvJohn has been putting out pics of the RR once in a while. Yours are wonderful, Deborah, and I totally understand the Pueblo people incorporating the brave and cunning bird into their myths and believes. Great post!

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    1. I grew up with Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner cartoons as well. That Beep, Beep comes to my head straight-away. 😂
      I learned so many new things about them reading the fun facts. You’re right the gained greater respect and appreciation from me!

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  18. An excellent post, Deborah, such beautiful photos!! I have seen a Roadrunner just twice, once was while I was stopped for a drink while bike riding. They are so beautiful and amazing! Have a great weekend. By the way, I’ve been to that preserve just once, it is amazing.

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  23. Wonderful photos. I’m glad it got as close as it did, the colors and details are beautiful. I knew that we were misled about the speed of the coyote, but I didn’t know any of the other facts. I kinda like the image of one beating a snake against a rock. The fact and legend about the X feet is very interesting. Thanks for including that information.

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    1. I’m glad it got that close as well. We were misled about the Coyote speed! I’ve seen them run they are pretty fast.

      I’m thankful the Roadrunners eat all those poisonous critters! I thought that was pretty cool that they use the rock as a tool to take out its prey.
      I’m glad you liked the fun facts. I always learn something new when I read them.

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