Meep
Meep! Here Comes a Roadrunner!
Read about the Roadrunner,
the clues are in yellow, then
play our Roadrunner Game!
Roadrunners are in the cuckoo family, and come from North and Central America. The Greater Roadrunner is found in the Southwest United States. The Lesser Roadrunner is found in Mexico and Central America. They like the desert and dry open country with a few scattered bushes.
Roadrunners look sort of prehistoric, and they are pretty big. They can grow up to two feet long from the tip of their beak to the end of their tail feathers. They are really strong with a crest on their head, long legs, strong feet and a bill beak. They can fly, but they spend most of their time on the ground. They can run up to fifteen miles an hour with their large feet. Each foot has two toes in front and two toes in the back.
Roadrunners eat insects, small reptiles, rodents and small mammals. They also eat tarantulas, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, small birds and fruits and seeds.
One thing about roadrunners that is different to a lot of birds, is that once they choose a partner or mate, they stay together unless something happens to one of them. They live in the same place year after year, and bring their chicks up in the same place. They make their nests in low trees or bushes and sometimes, even cactus. Their eggs are white and they will usually have between 2-6 eggs. Both the mother and father will sit on the eggs and help feed the baby chicks. The father always sits on the eggs at night.
The Greater Roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico. Some Native American Indian tribes believe that the roadrunner is a protection against evil spirits. They call the roadrunner the war bird, the snake eater, or the medicine bird.