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The other day I came across a Greater Roadrunner as I was out for a drive in southern Arizona’s farm country. Generally, these birds are pretty shy when I see them and they usually duck for cover as I approach them. That wasn’t the case on this occasion. The roadrunner was hunting for food in the weedy ground cover next to the road and it ignored me. I watched if for a few minutes as it trotted back and forth in the brush.
It would disappear into high grass or behind a shrub, then pop up again a few seconds later as it rummaged around. I wasn’t sure what it was hunting, but lizards have become very active recently and the roadrunner was behaving as if it was looking for these little reptiles..
I was very pleased when, for a few seconds, the roadrunner came so close to my vehicle (within 5 or 6 meters) that I was able to capture its portrait.
I’ve mentioned in other posts that Greater Roadrunners have very intricate plumage. I think that this image illustrates that quite well. It also shows a few other features that are unique roadrunner characteristics. I know of no other bird that has a ring on its eye’s iris surrounding the pupil that makes its eye look like a bulls-eye target. This image also show’s off the roadrunner’s large, cobalt-blue crest. Then there’s that stripe extending back from the the bird’s eye that is blue at the eye, white in the middle, and red at the rear.
Roadrunners are members of the cuckoo family of birds, but no other cuckoo has plumage like the roadrunner’s.
Images made with a Canon R5, Canon EF 400mm f4 DO II lens+Canon EF 1.4x telextender, M setting (auto ISO). First image, ISO 400, second image, ISO 320. Both images, f5.6 @ 1/3200.
Sonoran Images 