Subject: Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus

Location: Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

Stock Number: 07-48306

Comments: Roadrunners seldom fly to escape danger, preferring to escape on foot, but they do make short flights to perch on low tree branches, fence posts, and the like.

Roadrunners are in the Cuckoo family, though they bear little superficial resemblance to perching species such as the Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

While this species is most often noticed with lizard or snake prey, the young bird in this photo was hunting grasshoppers.

While I was returning from Albuquerque on the plane, my seatmate told me that her neighbor expressed great surprise that there really was a bird called the Roadrunner; she had thought it was simply a cartoon character.