Two roadrunners have been nesting in a tree just outside of my office for the past couple years. They’re kinda cute, pretty fun to watch, and they keep our front yard free of pesky snakes, lizards, and bugs. Everybody around the office likes having them, sortof a mini-Wild Kingdom episode for slow work days.
A bit over a week ago I noticed one of them had started hopping instead of running. I figured it’d hurt its foot, but didn’t think much else of it. It’s still out there catching assorted reptiles, so it isn’t going to starve to death or anything. Today though, it got close enough to my window for me to see what was wrong. The poor thing has a broken leg!
It’s sad, a roadrunner that can’t, uh, road-run. I can’t imagine it’s ever going to heal on its own, and while it can still catch food I think it would have a hard time outrunning anything that tried to hurt/ eat it (stray dog, cats, mean people, etc.). Not to mention, it’s got to hurt quite a bit.
So my question, is there anything I can do to help it? If I caught it, is it something a vet might look at? Can they even do that for wild animals? Or would trying to catch it do more harm than good?
I wasn’t aware that roadrunners nested in trees. I figured they nested on the ground or inside cacti. But you could try catching it and bringing it to your local wildlife rehab center. Although, you risk stressing out the bird to the point of killing it since some birds are very sensitive to stress.
I’ve caught songbirds by throwing a sheet over them. They are so stupid they think it’s night and go to sleep.
You could transport him in a pet carrier to the vet and let him worry about the rest. As Dr. Plantbrook says about handling difficult animals, “I have good drugs”.
I thought this myself. But they don’t, at least these two don’t. The tree trunk splits in half low to the ground. They sortof hop into the cleft of the trunk, and from there they can hop from branch to branch till they get to the top. To get back down they just glide out of the tree to the ground. I don’t think they can gain altitude, but it’s pretty neat to see them swoop down on an unsuspecting bug. They aren’t too graceful about it though, which makes me wonder if that’s how it broke it’s leg in the first place.
Anyway, I think I’ll give the vet a call, and see what they say. Thanks guys.
Aw, I love roadrunners, too. I would advise against trying to catch it yourself. Call the wildlife rescue people (the SPCA would have their number, I bet) and let them do it.
I used to stay in a B&B in Las Cruces, New Mexico and there were roadrunners nesting in the pine tree near the second story balcony. They can’t really fly far, but they can flap up pretty high.