Roadrunner with eye patch clearly visible
What do I know about the Roadrunner that I did not know yesterday? Quite a bit … as seen in these photos this bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye. I knew that … and usually the bit I have seen is bright blue. In these pic’s you can actually see that the patch is shaded blue anterior to red posterior. Never saw that before!!
Close up
We had the treat of varied weather with short spells of pelting rain: light, misty rain, blinding sunshine and foggy horizons as we drove to Falcon Lake in Texas. Once there we saw a dozen or more Roadrunners. They had their feathers fluffed up because it had rained but were out in full force in the sunshine seeking breakfast. Getting out to get a good shot i noticed the X tracks in the wet sand … with four toes they have two facing forward and two facing backward. It is called zygodactyl … who knew?
Eyepatch is visible even from this view
They live in arid scrub land and mate for life which is why we saw them in pairs searching for grasshoppers in the wet grass.
Roadrunner hunting for lunch
What a treat they were as they sped away from us. It was a stormy day harking back to my childhood when every day we lived WITH the weather not running indoors to escape it. Blessed rain to be appreciated and enjoyed.
Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper
This may be what the roadrunner will find to munch on! I was hunting an elusive butterfly when touching a leaf caused a strange insect to cautiously climb up a stalk of grass and stop … so I took his picture instead of the splendid butterfly I was chasing. Then he suddenly hopped … UP! … and OVER! a full 4 feet away. What an incredible distance for such a little guy. We chased him and every hop was 4 to 6 feet at a hop. WOW! I looked him up and he is a Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper found in the deep South around ponds and wet areas. He turned out to be a she as males are brown and females are green.
Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper
Here my friend holds the blade of grass she was perched on. You can see she’s about as big as a toothpick and shaped just like one!
Mary P Williams 