It’s been a good six or seven years since we’ve seen a roadrunner on the mountain. That’s when my husband caught one on video repeatedly circumnavigating our truck at the end of the driveway. Since then, we hadn’t seen eye nor feather of him — until this afternoon. Taking a spin on the treadmill, what should appear on the garden wall outside the window but Geococcyx californianus himself.
Like his cartoon counterpart, the roadrunner is large — nearly 2 feet from beak to tail — and according to the Peterson guide, rather uncommon. Unlike his purple ostrich-like TV version, we’ve not heard a meep from him.
Always loved the Warner Bros. cartoons — and the creative Latin names given both the roadrunner and coyote. While we do have coyotes here too, we have yet to see any Acme delivery trucks.
The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface 