Roadrunner

The roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico. It is a member of the cuckoo family. These fairly large birds are so interesting to watch. There is a pair of them that think my sister's yard and a couple of her neighbors yards are their territory. They patrol it daily looking for bugs, lizards, snakes, mice, and small birds to eat. I saw them almost every day while I stayed there. My sister said she saw them feeding several young roadrunners earlier in the summer, but she wasn't sure where they had nested. She thought is was probably in a vacant yard across from her. She said she is glad they are around as she had never seen a snake on her property and as over grown as it was when she moved in she expected to. They eat all kinds of bugs as you can see one doing in a couple of the photos that she took through a window as one was killing and eating a large beetle. We do wish they would leave the lizards as we like them and the small bird. They don't bother with the large Great Horned Owls that are also in the area. We saw the owls fly through several evening right at dusk and heard them hooting outside the windows just at sunrise but were never able to get any photos of them.