Road Runner Conversation

Yep. They're sitting on a nest - we've seen both Mama and Papa. Yesterday evening, one of them had a very large lizard dangling from his mouth. I chased the black cat away. I have a feeling I'm going to do a lot of cat chasing. Anybody have any good ideas to keep him away, without scaring the road runners? Should I spray around the tree with amonia/vinegar? Put out moth balls?

This morning I went outside and had a quiet discussion with whichever parent-bird was sitting on the nest. He listened to me, cocking his head to the side, trying to understand this strange language.

They are fast, and difficult to get a good picture! I snapped this one from inside my little office - Mrs RoadRunner had come to visit in the little courtyard. Picture is taken from the other side of the screen - sorry!

I'm excited for baby road runners!

It's a wild country with lots of predators, so I'm going to keep fingers and toes crossed.

Something ELSE in the Tree!

(photo courtesy wikipedia)

I remember the first time I ever saw a roadrunner, and not the one that tortures Wily E Coyote. (did I spell that right??)

Although they can fly, they spend most of their time on the ground. We've seen them catch lizards. Sometimes they are very curious, and don't run away.

I've heard that they can get very used to humans.

This morning, I saw one hop in the big mesquite tree in our front 'yard' (not really a yard, no grass...).

I wandered outside to see what he was doing.

He/She has built a nest.

See his/her head? Right in the middle of the picture, through all the leafy foliage.
So, I guess I'm going to have to try to keep the maurading cat away, and hope for the best.
Right after I snapped this picture, she ran out of the tree, and then I could see her nest.

We had a birds nest on our side porch for the past couple of weeks, I was enjoying watching Mama feed her babies. The other day, I realized that I had not heard them all day. I climbed up to see - gone. There are fresh claw marks on the post nearby. Owl? Bobcat? :(

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the possible road runner babies.

Road Runners

Did you watch cartoons when you were a kid? I loved Wilie E. Coyote, always trying to catch the roadrunner. Meep Meep!

I *love* when I see these cool birds. Yesterday, there was one that came up to the back door, and was just hanging out on the back patio. I snuck outside with my camera, and he (she?) heard me and ran away as fast as she could run.

I managed to grab just one quick picture, before she was gone.

See him running away?

:0)