We used to have one around here before we got the dog. It did get a few tomatoes. But I did like haveing it around.

During extreme drought when the small critters that the roadrunners eat are scarce, they will come and eat from the piles of henscratch that I put out for the wild birds and rabbits. I don't see them often, but when I do see one, I try to 'hide' and watch it for a while because they are shy and will run away if they see you watching them.

I love having them around, but they only very rarely visit the yard to eat.

Farmgardener, to encourage it further, leave an unmowed fenceline for it to run along beside or "hide in" if you can. These birds are very smart and they know they need to remain hidden for protection from predators, so it will feel more comfortable if they can stay under the cover of plants for safety reasons.

Although we see an occasional adult roadrunner alongside the roadway or fenceline, we'd lived here 9 or 10 years before we saw a baby. The babies are adorable.

The roadrunners who come to our place for henscratch generally do so early in the day although I've seen them out as late as noon. They don't like to be out and visible when the dogs and cats (who are all inside at night due to our large predator population) are out.

I'm glad you have a roadrunner. They are a lot of fun to watch.

Dawn

You're welcome.

Your roadrunner sounds quite friendly--almost as if he or she is becoming tame and that is pretty special. It sounds like Buzz feels pretty safe around you and likes to hang out near y'all.

I don't have guineas any more, by the way, and won't raise any babies this year. The predator that has been taking out our birds all year long got all 4 of the remaining guineas on Monday. I've never lost four in one day. I had kept them locked up for days after we had the cougar in the yard, but finally started letting them back out to roam from about noon to 4 or 5 p.m. daily. It is so discouraging. I just don't see the point in raising a new batch of keats, though, as long as the predator pressure is this heavy.

One chicken from the old flock has survived, but she is now locked up in the chicken run with the new chicks we've raised this year. She's been able to free range for as long as we've had her--probaby 5 or 6 or 7 years now, so she is miserable in the fenced in/roofed run, but at least she's alive.

We have woodland on three sides of us and the predator pressure this year is the worst its ever been--I think about 20 to 22 guineas and chickens lost since January, and one Maine Coon Cat. A neighbor about a half-mile up the road has lost a chihuahua during the same time frame. There have been many times we've gone 2 or 3 years without losing a single bird, so to lose almost two dozen in 6 or 7 months is so frustrating.

I don't think we'll let the chickens free-range ever again although we might build them a chicken tractor (a portable predator-proof pen with a roof over the top) so they can be moved around the yard daily to do their digging and scratching.

Dawn

I live in NE Kansas & this year we have a roadrunner living in our backyard. We have come to name him (or her) RB (Arby). Name was picked for various reasons....Roadrunner Bird, Running Bird, Really Brave, Roadrunner Breaking & Entering & Runny Butt. The last 3 reasons came about when Arby would sit right behind me on my deck & talk loudly while looking into my house. The sliding glass door was open. I could tell he was curious & kept acting like he was going to go in if I wasn't there. I had a little conversation w/ him & let him know that this was not an option. lol. Well yesterday, I left home for a short time, leaving the door to the backyard deck slightly open so the dog could get out if needed. I came home to find that I had had a visitor in the house. Looks like Arby made his way in because there were close to 20 droppings left all over my kitchen floor. It was obvious that Arby didn't leave the floor, but ran all over the kitchen, dining room & into the front, never leaving the tiled floor. Apparently he came in, left his calling card, then went back out. We almost named him Outhouse since I guess we are his outhouse. lol. This morning I let the dog out & went to wake my son. I heard Arby talking loudly outside on the deck & went to look. Sure enough, we ran into each other at the door. He took off quickly, but our little Arby is very brave. We have 2 old dogs & an old cat!

That is too funny. I guess he knows he can outrun everyone. Thanks for sharing your roadrunner tale this morning. Reading it made me smile.

We had a roadrunner in the gravel driveway yesterday. While they live in our rural neighborhood, they usually only come to the yard to "steal" some henscratch in periods of drought when they are having a hard time surviving. This particular one yesterday must be tired of walking around on flooded ground in the surrounding countryside so he was running around the driveway near the garage, where it was more or less dry yesterday morning and now is flooded again thanks to a big storm that just rolled through.

Instead of running off like they normally do, he ran up underneath a huge trumpet creeper vine that hides our tornado shelter. At least when he was underneath that vine, he was up on even higher ground. We are near the heavily-flooded Red River, but on much higher ground, so our property is heavily overrun lately with wild animals seeking to get to higher ground. We try to peacefully coexist with them all, unless they are attacking our own animals. We have tons and tons of birds here lately, even more than usual, and I've been putting out lots of food for them since many of the native fields in the river bottom land are under as much as 8' of flood water. That number was once 11', so things are getting better, but far from normal still.

I love seeing the roadrunners. Watching them run up and down the roads and fencelines makes me feel like we're still kinda living in the wild west.

My dog is older now. I have one that makes the rounds again. When I pull in the drive in the afternoon he is often there.

He would walk around a cedar tree and dissapear. I snuck up one day he was walking around the cedar then flying straight up to a branch in another tree.

We still have a couple of roadrunners but I don't think the original "Buzz" survived a storm one year. We also have added a dog and he keeps most wildlife at a distance.