Last week's post mentioned that the highlight of a recent outing were the numerous Black-tailed Jackrabbits. Well, a close second was a nice encounter with a Greater Roadrunner, Geococcyx Californianus, running across the wide path, which with artistic license, I'll call a road.

Coming around a bend in the path, I noticed a bit of movement to the left and saw this:

Of course, that is the long tail of the Roadrunner poking out. A few seconds later it emerged on the path, er, road, and sprinted across:


In fact, the bird even took flight briefly, something that roadrunners don't like to do, and I've only seen four or five times. Of course, that explains why you occasionally see them in trees, such as the case here a couple of years ago:


Roadrunners are another amazing bird with a number of interesting habitats, including cooperative hunting of snakes. I've always had my best luck in seeing them in Arizona between January and March, though they are year-round residents of much of the southwest. Check out this prior Roadrunner post for more information.