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I'm new to this area. What did they call roadrunners before we had roads?
See? Isn't that a good question? That's why it's good to have newcomers around, at least in moderation. They wonder about stuff the rest of us don't stop to consider. The roadrunner, which is the state bird of New Mexico, is also sometimes called the chaparral bird or ground cuckoo. In Spanish it is el correcaminos. In Latin it is Geococcyx californianus. In French it is grand éocoucou and in German it's wegekuckuck. In Mayan a roadrunner is xtuntun-kinil. Roadrunners are interesting birds. They are members of the cuckoo family. They can fly, but they don't much, and mostly use their wings for balance when they run. They can hit 20 mph. They look kind of goofy, but they are very efficient predators. Tale spinners will tell you roadrunners get together and build a little snake-sized corral out of sticks and rocks and then herd rattlesnakes into it to kill at their leisure. That of course is not all true, but they do eat snakes. As a matter of fact they'll eat just about anything: fruit, small lizards, scorpions, spiders, insects, eggs and small rodents. Their preferred method of dispatching their prey is to seize it in the beak and then whomp against the ground or a rock or whatever until it is dead. If it catches a snake that is too long to swallow in a gulp it just walks around with the end of the snake hanging out of its mouth until the other end gets digested. Roadrunners in turn are preyed upon by coyotes, badgers and turkey vultures, among other things.
RoadRunner Facts and Fiction:
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