ROADRUNNERS Cuckoo, But Not Flighty by Sheila Wood Foard photography by Jim Rathert Roadrunners moved to the Branson area about 50 years ago. The first sighting of the greater roadrunner, Geococcyx californianus, was in Taney County in 1956. After that, roadrunner sightings were reported in all the southwestern counties and as far north as the Missouri River. In the late 1970s, however, roadrunners almost disappeared because of three severe winters. Following that stretch of bad weather, they moved back in and spread across the southern part of the state. Missouri is now the northeastern edge of their range, which includes much of the arid Southwest and portions of Kansas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Comedy Show Don’t let the roadrunner’s brown and white camouflage fool you. This is not a dull bird. It’s a natural entertainer, a showy comedian that fits right into the Branson scene. Seeing one is a treat. The roadrunner’s natural habitat is a cedar glade, also called a bald. The Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area, northwest of Branson, is one place to start looking for them. Glades are rocky and usually hot and dry. They are open, or bald, hilltops, where roadrunners can run at top speed–15 miles an hour. Coyotes, by comparison, can sprint up to 40 miles an hour. Any open ground will do for this speedy cuckoo, whose running gait extends 19-20 inches. When they run, roadrunners hold their head down and tail out to make themselves as horizontal as possible. They can stop suddenly, raise their heads and ruffle their shaggy crests while looking for something to catch and eat. The tail is loosely hinged and moves in all directions to help them balance and brake. The tail also serves as a "rudder," enabling the bird to make U-turns or zigzag or sprint from a dead stop. They need such maneuvers to snatch grasshoppers out of mid-air or scoop up eastern collared lizards racing across a bald. Roadrunners need to run fast to catch fast food–the flying, hopping, slithering kind. They hunt insects, tarantulas, small rodents, scorpions, lizards and snakes. Roadrunners are often regarded as desert birds, but don’t be surprised if you see one around a shopping mall or crossing one of the city’s busy streets. In fact, roadrunners once nested in the air conditioner of a Branson hotel. Cartoon Cousin Roadrunners, which are members of the cuckoo family, are easy to recognize. However, they don’t look much like their cartoon cousin, which looks more like an ostrich riding a unicycle. Roadrunners are about 22—24 inches long. Half of that is tail feathers. They have slim bodies, short rounded wings, shaggy-crested heads and heavy bills. A roadrunner runs on long, powerful legs and four-toed feet. Two of its toes point forward and two point backward. The X-shaped footprints confuse trackers trying to determine which way the bird was going. The roadrunner’s yellow eyes are fringed with dark lashes and surrounded by blue skin that fades to bluish-white. In back of each eye is a bright orange patch. The bird is sometimes called desert clown, probably due to this coloration, as well as to its amusing antics. More than one roadrunner has been seen attacking its reflection in the windshield of a car. Not being shy, roadrunners are curious about people. They will shuffle their feet, pump their tail up and down and stare back at you with shaggy crest raised while being watched. Homesteaders sometimes adopted roadrunners to work as "mousers" and bug killers. Coo Birders, or bird watchers, often identify a bird by its call. That is easy to do with a roadrunner. It doesn’t go "Beep! Beep!" like its cartoon cousin. This cuckoo coos. During mating season, male roadrunners coo to attract a mate. Each sequence of six to eight dove-like coos falls in pitch. The male coos from atop a high perch–a canyon rim is ideal–early in the morning. But soft coos resonating down a house chimney have awakened many sleeping humans long before they aroused a female cuckoo. Roadrunners also make a clacking noise that sounds like castanets or a kid dragging a stick along a picket fence. To do this, a bird snaps the upper and lower parts of its bill together. Researchers have identified 16 different roadrunner sounds. These include barks, hoots, clucks, whines and grunting whirs. The birds use these sounds to warn of danger, locate mates or announce to their fledglings that they have returned to the nest with dinner. Besides "desert clown," the roadrunner has other nicknames, including "cock of the desert," "war bird," "lizard bird" and "snake killer." In Texas, it’s called a "chaparral cock," and in Mexico it’s known as "paisano," meaning fellow countryman. But the most popular name for a bird that races ponies or cars will always be "roadrunner."

Click to Enlarge Not many kids can say they've had an armful of otter. Jon McRoberts often handles a pair of semi-tam otters that travel around the state as part of an instructional wildlife show.     Probable Roadrunner Breeding Habitat Click to Enlarge   Which statement is true? (a) Roadrunners honk–Beep! Beep! (b) Roadrunners can run faster than coyotes. (c) Roadrunners live in Missouri.   Fast-Bird Facts Click to Enlarge Roadrunners: • are ground-dwelling cuckoos. • coo, bark, whine and clack their mandibles together. • are camouflaged in brown and white feathers. • use their foot-long tail like a rudder. • have four-toed feet that leave X-shaped footprints. • can run 15 miles per hour. • do not migrate. • eat mostly meat. • kill snakes by circling and attacking with their bills. • expose the black skin on their backs to the sun to warm themselves.   Taking Flight Roadrunners, or ground-dwelling cuckoos, can fly, too. One good hop and a flap of their wings will usually take them to the top of a boulder. Their flight is awkward, at best. They are much better at volplaning, or gliding. From a perch, they spread their stubby wings, take a running leap and sail to the ground like a feathered hang-glider. A young student once noted that roadrunners are not as "flighty" as most birds. He was right if he meant they don’t fly as often. But "flighty" also means "silly." Is a roadrunner silly? Well, that’s for you to decide. One thing’s for sure, though, a roadrunner really is cuckoo.