Roadrunner hits the trail

"What the hell is that?!"

With suspicion Roadrunner centered the camouflaged box on its fovea.

"Damn, it's a camera trap violating my privacy."

"I'm outta here!"

Beep beep, there she is again

Yep, Roadrunner used the gulch almost as much as the bobcats.

Thrice she made a showing, slyly looking here and there, long enough to give us 19 photos.

The wily bird was obviously checking the place out for reptiles or unsuspecting dickey birds, especially on the banks above the bed of the gully.

In the southwest these customers are known to snatch and gobble hummingbirds from nectar feeders.

They say the therapists in greater Albuquerque do a brisk business treating garden birders for psycho-trauma.

I once saw Roadrunner making house calls in Corrales, NM.

Lizard season hadn't yet opened, and it seemed everyone in the neighborhood knew the bird's schedule.

Roadrunner called in late afternoon, checked out the bird feeder, and then peered through the sliding glass door.

When the door opened she strutted expectantly into the kitchen.

There she gulped a couple of raw hamburger balls big enough to gag a Rhode Island Red.

The ultimate jogger

Roadrunner stopped by set 303 at Barrett Creek on December 2 at 1:23 PM.

I wonder if the slightly gaping beak means she had a good jog?

I doubt it was from over eating -- not at this time of year.

Like the bobcat and coyote she posed well for the photo op.

Roadrunner in ringtail land

It's an illusion. 

Roadrunner isn't in a sandy wash, but in a wind-eroded cave in a cliff over a seasonal creek. 

A narrow and precarious path led to it. 

It looked like perfectly respectable ringtail habitat.

The cave is under the lower overhang. 

But no ringtail visited the place in 2 months. 

What did visit were a wood rat, Merriam's chipmunk,  California ground squirrel, a cottontail rabbit of all things, and the usual deer mice. 

And there were brown towhees, scrub jays, and perhaps a mockingbird that perched on the camera. 

If this isn't a mockingbird, tell me what it is.

We decided not to give up.

So we changed the batteries and memory stick to give it one more chance.

Still hopeful, we drove on to the next locations.