# Beep Beep **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864 "2007-06-29T01:46:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/1 "2007-06-29T01:46:38Z")
Roadrunners are rather scarce, but now and then one comes running through our back yard. One today wandered around, then flew up into a palo verde tree (yeah, they fly when they want to). You can see him [here](http://s25.photobucket.com/albums/c86/KlondikeGeoff/wildlife/?action=view¤t=roadrunner.jpg) The last I saw the coyote, he had just fallen off a cliff. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/2 "2007-06-29T02:14:50Z")
Dangit! I almost had him! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/3 "2007-06-29T03:59:46Z")
I recently visited friends in Texas who have a roadrunner nest in a tree quite close to their house. The nest has eggs (at least it did 2 days ago, when I was there) and the adults take turns sitting on them. We saw a “changing of the guard” at sunrise and at sunset. These birds are tenacious. A late-evening thunderstorm brought 50-mph winds that threatened to tear this tree from its roots, but in the morning the nest was fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/4 "2007-06-29T04:20:32Z")
Boy. Chuck Jones _really_ took some creative license in his depiction of a roadrunner. He doesn’t look a _thing_ like the real article. I daresay, that one doesn’t look like more than a couple of bites. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/5 "2007-06-29T05:31:24Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Dangit! I almost had him! [/QUOTE] As much as internet culture can be frowned upon here, I must say: LOL! ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/6 "2007-06-29T05:34:09Z")
Thanks to the thread title, I have a new earworm. 😉 _I’ll show him that a Cadillac is not a car to scorn. Beep beep. Beep beep. His horn went beep beep beep._ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/7 "2007-06-29T07:19:08Z")
I thought it was ‘meep meep’. Do they, in actual reality, make a sound that could even be liberally interpreted as sounding like a car horn? I want the answer to be abundantly yes, but I expect disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/8 "2007-06-29T14:20:33Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I thought it was ‘meep meep’. Do they, in actual reality, make a sound that could even be liberally interpreted as sounding like a car horn? I want the answer to be abundantly yes, but I expect disappointment. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen a lot of roadrunners (heck, it’s the state bird), but I’ve never heard one make any sounds\*. So there’s still hope! I probably have, and didn’t know what was making the sound. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/9 "2007-06-29T16:22:53Z")
I hate to get out of character but I noticed the cute little Lynx pics on your photo album, Geoff. So what’s the story on them. The cuteness, it burns! ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/10 "2007-06-29T17:03:10Z")
Whoa, whoa,whoa, slow down a minute. They _fly_? Then why the fuck do they run everywhere?! Why run when you have perfectly good wings?! (TIme to go post in the embarrassing things you believed thread… :o ) ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/11 "2007-06-29T17:11:53Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I thought it was ‘meep meep’. [/QUOTE] As did I. Did it also leave a cloud of dust behind it when it ran away? ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/12 "2007-06-29T17:14:40Z")
There’s a link to a roadrunner call [here](http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Greater_Roadrunner.html#fig1). Sounds kind of like a dove. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/13 "2007-06-29T17:16:55Z")
When I was living in a second-floor apartment in Albuquerque, I’d often see one in the parking lot from my balcony. The complex was surrounded by a wide-open space. Some rabbits, too, occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/14 "2007-06-29T17:30:56Z")
[QUOTE=bouv] \ They _fly_? Then why the fuck do they run everywhere?! Why run when you have perfectly good wings?! \ [/QUOTE] SWAG: I think it has to do with their food source, mostly insects, and sometimes snakes. It sure is a sight to behold watching them chase a snake, pick it up, and kind of twist it around and beat it on the ground. Most of the ground around here is pretty hard, which would make it difficult to “swoop” in on such a small target. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/15 "2007-06-29T17:58:35Z")
[QUOTE=danceswithcats] Thanks to the thread title, I have a new earworm. 😉 [/QUOTE] Same here! Thank og I’m not the only one! 🙂 _Hey buddy, how do I get this car out of second gear?_ ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/16 "2007-06-29T18:07:34Z")
**KlondikeGeoff** , I’m starting to think you are not, indeed, in the Klondike. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/17 "2007-06-29T18:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] **KlondikeGeoff** , I’m starting to think you are not, indeed, in the Klondike. [/QUOTE] What part of “High Sonoran Desert” tipped you off? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/18 "2007-06-29T18:36:49Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] I hate to get out of character but I noticed the cute little Lynx pics on your photo album, Geoff. So what’s the story on them. The cuteness, it burns! [/QUOTE] Hey, I was going to reply to your first post with a “Snort!” but somebody beat me with a “LOL.” I forgot those lynx pics were there. My daughter works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and sent me those shots of a litter of rescued lynx kittens. Terminally cute, and the shot of the whole mess of them yelling is pretty funny. Watch out for the roadrunners 😃 Incidently, they are really vicious birds, as you must know by now **Wile E**. As another poster noted, they can catch snakes and beat them to death, as they do with other prey. Just be glad they are not the size of horses, or they might eliminate the human race. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/19 "2007-06-29T18:51:23Z")
[QUOTE=Misnomer] What part of “High Sonoran Desert” tipped you off? 😉 [/QUOTE] I think it was the cactus in the background of the roadrunner picture. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2007, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864/20 "2007-06-30T12:35:28Z")
Am I remembering right? Aren’t roadrunners a member of the cuckoo family? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep/409864.md?page=2)