The Opportunistic Roadrunner!

Roadrunners are as much fun as the cartoon -- maybe more, beep beep. Yesterday, a young sparrow was on the ground obviously hurt. I would walk past and the sparrow would hardly move. He stayed within a four foot radius for a couple of hours -- until, a Roadrunner came by. That was the end of the sparrow. Such is life -- and death -- in the desert. The weak, the sick, the hurt just don't last long. Two years ago the same thing happened to a Gila Woodpecker that had been hurt and on the ground. That seemed strange because a Gila Woodpecker is much larger than the sparrow. In both cases, though, the Roadrunner took the hurt bird in his bill and thrashed it time and time again on the ground until it was dead. Then started eating. Roadrunners walk a few feet, stop, and raise their tail and crown feathers. Then walk a few feet and go through that process again. Sometimes that aren't afraid of people at all. Once we were serving breakfast outside and a mother Roadrunner and her baby came walking right up to the table, hanging around the patio the entire time looking for insects and bugs. All photos above were taken here at The Azure Gate Bed and Breakfast.