What do Roadrunners eat?

[JillGat]

I know what roadrunners eat in the warmer months: mostly lizards, snakes, bugs and maybe some other bird eggs. But this time of year in New Mexico there are no eggs and the rest are hibernating (It's below freezing at night and there is snow on the mountain). Yet I see roadrunners out runnin' around. What are they eating this time of year?

[danceswithcats]

They eat the pile of Acme Roadrunner Chow that is sitting at the bottom of a canyon. Up top, there's a coyote attempting to dislodge a huge rock with a 2 by 4.

[lizardling]

Originally Posted by danceswithcats

They eat the pile of Acme Roadrunner Chow that is sitting at the bottom of a canyon. Up top, there's a coyote attempting to dislodge a huge rock with a 2 by 4.

Darn you! I came in here just to make such a reference...

[BMax]

I've seen photos of them eating lizards, grasshoppers & scorpions. Probably any critters small enough for them to catch.

[Colibri]

Most likely rodents, and maybe small birds if they can catch them. One site says that they eat up to 10% plant material in the winter, including fruits and seeds.

[ultrafilter]

Roadrunners are carnivores?

Damn. That changes everything.

[JillGat]

Thanks, Colibri! I almost put your name in the thread title, hoping you'd spot it sooner. But your little birdie eyes are always alert.

That's exactly what I was wondering and suspecting - that they might be eating plant matter sometimes. When you mentioned rodents, I suddenly realized that yesterday morning while running on the trail where I generally see roadrunners, I saw a mouse scutter alongside the base of a wall. So there are rodents around in the wintertime here after all.

[JillGat]

Originally Posted by ultrafilter

Roadrunners are carnivores?

Damn. That changes everything.

Yes. In fact they look and move a lot like reptiles, I think. We have a collared lizard in New Mexico that runs on its back legs and seeing that made me understand how they could be evolutionarily related. Roadrunners are really amazing birds. They can only fly up into a tree or a short distance, mostly relying on their feet to run. (As you know from the cartoons.)

[Duckster]

F a s t food, of course!!!







Come on people, get with the program.

[mbh]

My dad has a bird feeder in his yard. Doves and quail come for the birdseed, and roadrunners come for the doves and quail. I once saw a roadrunner perch on a tree branch about ten feet off the ground, and pounce on a dove as it flew by.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Originally Posted by JillGat

Yes. In fact they look and move a lot like reptiles, I think.

In fact, they are reptiles (insofar as the label 'reptile' means anything). But try convincing an ornithologist of that.

[Phlosphr]

Hijack - Colibri - did you know your screen name is the name of a brand of bird feeder? I just bought a hummingbird feeder from petsmart and the brand name in big letters is... Colibri

[Johnny L.A.]

When I worked in San Bernardino there was a roadrunner that would visit our car park every morning. It would go to one of the 'planters' and find a snail, then go to one of the abutments and bash it open and eat the tasty little escargot.

[Malodorous]

Somewhat ironically, they eat Coyotes

[Laughing Lagomorph]

Originally Posted by Phlosphr

Hijack - Colibri - did you know your screen name is the name of a brand of bird feeder? I just bought a hummingbird feeder from petsmart and the brand name in big letters is... Colibri

You do know Colibri is a genus of hummingbirds, don't you?

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Phlosphr

Hijack - Colibri - did you know your screen name is the name of a brand of bird feeder? I just bought a hummingbird feeder from petsmart and the brand name in big letters is... Colibri

It doesn't surprise me - colibri means hummingbird in Spanish (and several other languages, originally being an Arawak word). I use it as my handle because I did my thesis research on hummingbirds in Panama.

[WpgTriniman]

These birds walk rapidly about, running down prey or occasionally jumping up to catch insects or birds. They mainly eat insects, reptiles, rodents, tarantulas, scorpions and small birds.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Roadrunner

[David Simmons]

Originally Posted by ultrafilter

Roadrunners are carnivores?

Damn. That changes everything.

You bet. They are fierce predators that will eat anything they can catch and they try to catch anything they think they are big enough to take.

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Malodorous

Somewhat ironically, they eat Coyotes

Since they sometimes eat carrion, they probably do make a meal off road-killed Coyote on occasion.

[David Simmons]

Originally Posted by Colibri

Since they sometimes eat carrion, they probably do make a meal off road-killed Coyote on occasion.

And sometimes they have a real bad day. There was a young roadrunner who hung around the 5th fairway on our golf course. We also have coyotes who hang around our golf course. One morning the scattered feathers out in the fairway were all that was left of the roadrunner.

[JillGat]

Not surprisingly, Colibri is, of course, a hummingbird expert. Is that cool or what?

mbh, I had no idea roadrunners would hang out by bird feeders and stalk doves and other birds. I am alternately pleased and repulsed by this. I wish they would attack the house cats that hang out by my feeder.

Roadrunners are like no other birds I've ever seen, though I believe there are similar birds (filling the same ecological niche) on other continents. If you've never seen one in the wild, you need to head out to the southwest sometime. Coyotes are damn cool, too.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Originally Posted by Malodorous

Somewhat ironically, they eat Coyotes

Thus substantially proving that everything you see on television is wrong.

[GuanoLad]

Originally Posted by David Simmons

And sometimes they have a real bad day. There was a young roadrunner who hung around the 5th fairway on our golf course. We also have coyotes who hang around our golf course. One morning the scattered feathers out in the fairway were all that was left of the roadrunner.

Homer, that wasn't you, that was a cartoon!