holy sh** there a roadrunner in the backyard

[rdking647]

Im sittin in my living room when i hear my wife say that. r
run for camera.
run into office to get 500mm zoom
change lenses
sneak out back door

start shooting
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[Solly Mack]

1. Great capture!

Wonderful shots!

Love his hop/fly/pitch to the roof!

[PoliticAverse]

2. See any coyotes in the area?... n/t

[rdking647]

4. wlle e hangs out in the wooded areas of my neighborhood

[nxylas]

82. How can you tell?

Are there a lot of Acme vans delivering giant fireworks and roller skates there?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I LOVE these!

And how wonderful the roadrunner was so cooperative, and stuck around for you!

They're all great, but the last one is amazing.

Lucky you ..........

Lucky us!

[raccoon]

5. Great pictures. Are you in NM? nt

[rdking647]

7. austin texas

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Those are some great shots!

[Sanity Claws]

8. Did it go "beep beep?"

Wile E. Coyote is chasing him, you know. Get an anvil ready.

[brewens]

9. Very cool! I spotted a Yellow Bellied Flycatcher this summer when out on a walk.

We aren't so far from their normal range that it should be a spectacular sighting but I've never seen one in our town before and I've lived here 46 years. Just seeing that bird hunting immediately caught my attention, realizing it wasn't any of the usual birds. It was pretty cool watching it maneuver and clearly show the distinct white bars on it's wings. I had no clue what it was but it was easily identified online.

Are those Roadrunners normal for your area?

[northoftheborder]

10. Really great photos, and I LOVE Roadrunners!

[BlancheSplanchnik]

11. I've never seen a 3-d one before!

And no black outlines either! Wow!!


Meep Meep!

[Warpy]

12. Beautiful pics!

One of them lives in my neighborhood, unusual for the inner city but not unheard of. I see them all over this part of the city.

First one I ever saw was out on one of the reservations when I first moved here, bouncing over unpaved back roads, roadrunner along side and proving how he got his name.

Local Spanish folks call them "paisanos," fellow countrymen.

[mnhtnbb]

13. Amazing! Whenever I run outside with the camera, birds take off immediately!

[Rebellious Republican]

14. What a nice birdie......

Here birdie birdie, come over here.....



All kidding aside, Great pics and post! Keep Austin weird.

[MoreGOPoop]

15. Great shots!

Have never seen one in flight, only running.

[JayhawkSD]

80. You won't - it pretty much can't fly n/t

[ffr]

16. Those are some really good pictures. Nice work!

Keen eye for things that interest us too. Thx!

[Iggo]

17. Fucking awesome, ain't they!

[yuiyoshida]

18. HE DOES LOOK LIKE..

[zeemike]

26. One of the best cartoons ever.

And poor old Wile E Coyote keep the Acme corporation in business for years trying to catch that Roadrunner.

[Ratty]

36. Must you sully a beautiful nature thread with your childishness?

Especially since you beat me to it!

[yuiyoshida]

39. heh!

[markpkessinger]

19. Way cool! n/t

[longship]

20. Where's my order from ACME?

Damn UPS arrived too late.


R&K for the birders.

[NV Whino]

21. Wow!

Great shots! Every one of them. What a treat.

[Triana]

22. Means that damn coyote is nearby....

[flpoljunkie]

23. Awesome pix!

Thanks for posting them!

[MuseRider]

24. Incredible shots!

I have never seen a roadrunner. Really an awesome looking bird. Thank you so much for sharing these!

[panader0]

25. I live in the boonies-high desert, lots of mesquite trees, southern Az.

Lots of these beautiful birds. They make a distinctive call, like rolling R's in Spanish. When I repeat it to them they cock their heads and stare at me. Lots of coyotes too, my favorite. They whoop it up around twilight to gather, then hunt all night and whoop it up again at dawn as they head home. Lots of javelina, hawks, snakes, many kinds of critters.

[TexasProgresive]

27. A roadrunner took a liking to a friends house in Bryan,TX

He could be seen on the roof often. They like to eat snakes and lizards.

[CrispyQ]

28. These are awesome!!

Kick kick kick kick kick!!!

[Aldo Leopold]

29. Oh, man, I LOVE backyard ecology!

We occasionally set up camera traps in our back yard and routinely catch some really cool goings on.

Nice shots!

[zeemike]

30. Some great shots there.

Especially that last one with his crest sticking up...you were lucky to find him.

[rocktivity]

31. Threads like this make me fall in love with DU all over again

Last edited Wed Oct 23, 2013, 01:57 AM - Edit history (1)

because I learn about so much more than politics -- I had no idea that roadrunners could be found outside of desert environments. But then again, I had no idea that cast iron cookware should be cleaned with salt!


rocktivity

[CatWoman]

32. did he go "beep, beep"?

[japple]

33. Brilliant pics!!! Thanks for sharing them. I have family in TX and usually

visit the area around Seguin/San Antonio every spring about the time the bluebonnets are blooming. We haven't seen roadrunners in quite some time. I guess if you live there, you're bound to run into them more often, but even with riding around the backroads, we haven't seen them for several years.

[Renew Deal]

34. Great pictures. Are those common in your area?

[GentryDixon]

35. Very cool.

I have seen them in my travels to El Paso and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I have never been able to capture a photo. Good job!

[denvine]

37. Great shots! Thanks for sharing

[Springslips]

38. Cool! So how does it work now?

Does he carry the internet packets in his beak and flies back and forth? Or does the information get passed vocally from bird to bird, before loading on your computer?

[brer cat]

40. How did you get him to keep posing??

Great shots. Thanks for sharing.

[JayhawkSD]

81. Not hard, they love to show off. n/t

[brer cat]

83. How neat!

I am from the southeast and don't know much about them. We drive to New Mexico at least once a year and I saw one there, but I didn't get the "show" that you did. Maybe next time.

Those are really nice pix.

[Rainngirl]

41. So cool!

Thanks for sharing. I've never seen one up close! We don't have them in the Pacific Northwest.

[blondie58]

42. Way cool!

You got some great shots. 🐾

[Demeter]

43. Meep-meep!

[MrMickeysMom]

44. How cool are those flying up and down!

Especially the last one coming down!

[rdking647]

53. he doesnt really fly so much. more like hes an amazing jumper.

saw him leap from the group to the top of the fence to the roof and then back down to the ground. he never really opened his wings. i got off about 50 shots before he took off.
hes one of a couple who live in my neighborhood. theres a fenced off area about ablock from me to protect a karst. I think they live there.
i only see them every couple of months or so

[2naSalit]

45. NICE!!!

Haven't seen one of those in a long time, we just don't seem to have any in Montana.

Lucky you, how exciting!! Very nice pictures.

[BlueJazz]

46. WOW!! You De MAN !!

[roguevalley]

47. wow. awesome. :D Lucky you. They kill snakes :D

[Auggie]

48. Not easy. Nice job.

[dem in texas]

49. Road runners in Dallas County

We live in southwest Dallas county in the hilly area called the "Dallas Hill Country" and have all kinds of wild life in the woods around our neighborhood. I have seen roadrunners, yellow flickers and quail many times. Bobcats and Coyotes are here. too. We saw a little fox in the alley last week. I love to snuggle down in my bed and hear the whippoorwills sing when they are in mating season. A few nights ago, I heard a great horned owl and we hear the barn owls all the time. We keep water at the edge of our fence for the birds, so there is a constant traffic of birds stopping by to drink water. Great bird watching from our kitchen window. It is getting time for the flocks of cedar wax wings to pick the berries in our yard. The only bad experience we have had with wild life is when we first moved here in the early 80's. We had a split cedar roof and the raccoons pulled it apart to get in the attic and we had to get a new roof.

I grew up in this area and remember catching horned toads, you never see them anymore. And only a few scissor tail fly catchers. We have lightning bugs in our yard in the summer, not many but it is delightful to see them back again.

[matt819]

50. I have followed similar steps

Wife alert
Run for camera
Change lens
Run outside
Take photo

I with you up to that point.

Here's where my experience differs

Look at photo - Huh? What's that? Is that a deer or a bear? Why is is washed out? How could you miss that? Why is it out of focus?

I think I hate you.

Fantastic photos.

[judesedit]

51. Really great job! Thanx!

[DrewFlorida]

52. Thanks for sharing that! Beautiful bird, great shots.

[Curmudgeoness]

54. Incredible pictures. You are so lucky

that he hung around long enough to get photos---and stayed out in the open.

I especially like the look on his face in the second shot. And what a great catch in that last shot. Fantastic.

[applegrove]

55. Gorgeous pics. I watched the roadrunner cartoons but never knew they were

an actual animal. Thanks.

[DirkGently]

56. Great shots. Love the last one especially. n/t

[tavalon]

57. I'm so sad I didn't have your clarity of thought

Today, a bald eagle landed on my car (in a parking lot), did that great pose (think of the quarter) and dumped a huge load of poop. Then it flew away. I was gobsmacked and I washed off the only proof I had. But I have pictures in my head!

Great pictures you got!

[Tigress DEM]

58. Beautiful!! nt

[juajen]

59. What a lovely bird, and the photography is marvelous.

Thanks, you made my day.

[Enthusiast]

60. Their feathers are quite beautiful in

a subtle kind of way. I say we kill 'em and make hats.

[austinlw]

61. Really nice photos!

I live in western Travis County, west of Austin, between Bee Cave and Spicewood. We see them occasionally while driving, and a few times in or near our backyard. It's a special treat. Lots of migrating birds and butterflies around here this time of year.

[rdking647]

63. in in far sw austin

mopac and slaughter

[L0oniX]

62. Awesome.

[lillypaddle]

64. Great Pics!

thanks for sharing.

[Samantha]

65. Great pictures

I loved them all but the last one is so dynamic. Thanks for sharing these.

Sam

[Auntie Bush]

66. You deserve a prize for those pictures!

Thanks...I feel honored to see them. AWESOME!

[colorado_ufo]

67. WOW! Amazing, awesome shots! Beep beep!

[TlalocW]

68. Don't step outside for a while

It might start raining large pieces of machinery from the Acme Corporation.

TlalocW

[skydive forever]

69. Very cool

Thanks. Especially love the last shot.

[democratXX]

70. Nice

Thanks for sharing this, I miss the roadrunners who lived in my old neighborhood in Albuquerque, and the coyotes who howled on the mesa to the west of me. Desert critters are extra nice because there's not so many of them- although I didn't know roadrunners lived in Austin, I don't think of that place as roadrunner land.

[iandhr]

71. Any relation to this road runner

[lastlib]

72. Meep-meep!!

Bl-l-l-l-l-l !!
(sound of Road-runner tongue action...!)

[Old and In the Way]

73. Why can't I take pics like this?

Outstanding!

[ohheckyeah]

74. Great photos!

I miss seeing roadrunners. I lived in Arizona and saw them frequently.....don't have any here in Virginia.

[SpankMe]

75. Cute birdie. Great pix. Thanks. n/t

[BlueStreak]

76. Wow! Great catch

I've had some interesting ones (Eastern bluebirds, pileated woodpeckers. barn owls, and a group of 6 crows intelligently collaborating to drive away a vulture 4 times their size). But this beats anything I have seen. And such nice shots.

Crows and ravens have always been my favorite birds. They just seem smarter than the others.

[Imalittleteapot]

77. Wow. Wish I had your talent and camera when a Roadrunner

was in my Fort Worth (in the middle of the city) backyard several years ago. I heard a lot of screeching. He had killed a small bird, then hopped up onto the fence and jumped into a neighbor's yard.

Your photos are amazing!!!

[NealK]

78. Wow, amazing pictures and beautiful bird.

[emmadoggy]

79. Those are awesome shots!

I LOVE the last one! Very cool!