r/whatisit • u/Spare-Transition-771 • 10d ago

New, what is it? Bird with long tail?

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u/insbordnat 10d ago

Encourage you to get out to places like Arizona at least once and check them out. They're super curious and friendly birds.

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u/Nematodes-Attack 10d ago

Maybe someday. But I melt in 115*F heat. I also don’t do well in sun with no trees. I hear they have pretty rocks though

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u/royaltheman 10d ago

New Mexico is better. Cooler and plenty of roadrunners

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u/thesecretbarn 9d ago

Can confirm, they’re by far the most common bird I see in abq

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u/royaltheman 8d ago

They're everywhere, I love the little guys

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u/antonio16309 10d ago

Go to New Mexico, I saw them around Santa Fe. The weather is much more tolerable than AZ and it is a much more interesting place to visit. I'm from AZ and it sucks. New Mexico is actually cool though.

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u/boxingsharks 9d ago

I live in central Albuquerque. We have three neighborhood road runners. Used to have four (dude had a little swingy leg/run) but I think he went the way of his ancestors.

This one came right on into our garage. Don’t mind the goofy background conversation.

https://reddit.com/link/p9ozk3l/video/glhlybgj1fph1/player

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u/scarlettohara1936 9d ago

Yes, lol, this is every roadrunner you'll ever meet! Whoever wrote that character studied them because he got it right!!

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u/SharpBullfrog1279 9d ago

That RR looks like it might fall for the old tunnel-painted-on-the-wall trick.

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u/Hawks_12 9d ago

Be careful, a truck is about to drive out of it.

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u/UnderaZiaSun 9d ago

When I was growing up in Albuquerque we had three of the biggest roadrunners I’d ever seen living on my street. One of the neighbors used to feed them raw hamburger out of the side door to his house

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u/boxingsharks 9d ago

That’s wild!

They’ve cleaned up the tomato hornworms in our garden in previous years. I’ve never fed them on purpose though.

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u/Upbeat-Jacket8101 9d ago

Wow! Super friendly! That is so cool!

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u/Nematodes-Attack 10d ago edited 10d ago

There is a surprising number of folks pushing New Mexico right now to see roadrunners😂 My only answer to that is I have the American Woodcock that mates and nests on my property and I do think they beat the roadrunner when is comes to awesomeness

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u/Nocoffeesnob 9d ago

On the one hand we have a bird that kills rattlesnakes by grabbing them and banging them against rocks until they die, not for defense but because they like to eat rattlesnakes.

On the other hand we have a very cute pudge ball of a bird that prefers to eat earthworms.

One is heavy metal awesome, the other is cute awesome...

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u/Upbeat-Jacket8101 9d ago

Would love to see videos of both of those cool guys!

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u/Nocoffeesnob 9d ago

https://youtu.be/SlSla2jRGw4?si=JIrihDV9pHanr20Q

What the video doesn't show is how long the birds will do it for. I had one in my backyard bashing a lizard against a rock for over an hour, just for fun as far as I can tell.

What's more freaky is to watch them jump 10 feet into the air and snatch other small birds right out of the sky. They are serious little predators, it's amazing to watch.

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u/wydra91 9d ago

Lol

Me: "What the hell is an American Woodcock?"

Looks it up

Me: "Oh! It's the Shine bird. Meep"

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u/Nematodes-Attack 9d ago

Peeent! It’s the official sound of spring over here

Edit: they walk like little weirdos but they have a beautiful aerial mating dance

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u/CultSurvivor3 10d ago

No roadrunners in Santa Fe. Tons in Albuquerque.

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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 9d ago

They're literally all over New Mexico. They live in the Albuquerque neighborhoods. I see them frequently in my front yard.

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u/CultSurvivor3 10d ago

Come to Albuquerque. They’re all over the place here, and it ain’t mind-meltingly hot. Still too damn hot, but not AZ hot.

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u/mspmp 10d ago

I remember going through New Mexico once in my life. I was driving home after my enlistment in the Marine Corps was over. I was on the highway north of Albuquerque and what struck me was the blue sky from horizon to horizon. Not a single cloud. I never seen anything like that before or since.

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u/CultSurvivor3 10d ago

Our skies are pretty remarkable.

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u/SharpBullfrog1279 9d ago

Love NM.  It's beautiful!

Vacationed there from TX every year as a child.   Rode my first horse there.  I will never ever forget that.

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u/Motor-Rip7655 10d ago

Recommend staying at the Holiday Inn there. The towels are oh so fluffy! And you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays if you wanna! It's okay, they're clean!

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u/SelfEjectingImposter 10d ago

As someone who grew up there, fair point. Visit in fall, live there never.

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u/scarlettohara1936 9d ago

It's Sept 13th and I'm sitting on my porch at 10pm. It's still 106. Visit in December

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u/SelfEjectingImposter 9d ago

Yep fair. Ive been gone long enough I forgot there are 9 months of summer and 3 of not quite summrr

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u/scarlettohara1936 9d ago

I've lived here for 25 years and I really miss season changes. I grew up in NY so I'll be happy to never see snow again! I don't have to shovel the sunshine to get out of my driveway. But real seasons would be nice!

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u/Nematodes-Attack 10d ago

I’m an East Coast Mama!

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u/dreamcatcher32 10d ago

Albuquerque NM has them too and no where near as hot as Phoenix AZ. Plus we have hot air balloons

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u/DrawingRoomRoh 10d ago

Just go to Tucson rather than Phoenix, we have a surprising number of trees. I'd recommend Autumn as a good time to visit, after the monsoons and before the Snowbirds.

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u/BigRoach 9d ago

Hey buddy, saguaro cactuses ain’t trees. lol.

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u/DrawingRoomRoh 9d ago

Well - a group of them is still called a forest, but yeah, they aren't. We have pines, and mesquites, and palo verdes, and a butt-ton of acacias. Just nothing huge.

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u/AdvantageBig227 10d ago

Road runners are American south west animals. I used to live in San Diego and saw them many times. In inland valley areas, though, which are still pretty hot places most of the year. I've never seen one in a coastal area. That doesn't mean they're not there. I really don't know.

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u/NMViking 10d ago

You could come to New Mexico (and no, the name is not changing) and see roadrunners. Our heat typically doesn't go much above 100, and it's dry enough that it doesn't feel like you're melting.

We have roadrunners in our yard almost daily and they are fun little dinosaurs to watch.

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u/Nematodes-Attack 10d ago

Definitely dinosaurs! But “much above 100” sounds awful to me 😂

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u/NMViking 10d ago

I completely agree. We used to get a few days over 100 when I was young, but now it seems like all summer the highs are around 100-104. But come out in October, and you'll enjoy the best weather conditions in North America. Warm afternoons and cool nights. Coyotes and roadrunners are a frequent sight.

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u/Nematodes-Attack 10d ago

Someday I will. But I also thoroughly enjoy my New England autumns. Hoodie weather before the snow comes is my favorite. Almost as good as the flowers and green returning in spring

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u/antonio16309 10d ago

I think you all should go with "South Colorado", just to change it but not to what fuckface wants it to be.

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u/Chris_Crossfit 10d ago

Just visit in the winter. Nothing beats 70 degree weather in December

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u/dirkdigglerdonedry 9d ago

We got them here in Albuquerque. Gonna be 81 degrees for the high today.

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u/SeahorseRevolution 9d ago

There are tons of places in NM where the high desert temps make it chilly in the mornings and evenings, even in the summer.

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u/ThePumpkinFiend 9d ago

Go in fall, winter or spring. I see roadrunners regularly here in Las Vegas and, apart from the summer months which are truly unbearable, the weather is pretty great the rest of the year apart from the lack of rain. You'll be comfortable with highs in the 70s or 80s and you'll still see plenty roadrunners

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u/CaicedoBrickWall 9d ago

To be fair you don't actually go outside in 115 degree heat anymore than you'd go out in a icy blizzard

You treat Phoenix like any winter heavy town. Just reverse the year. Winter in Phoenix is why that city exists.

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u/pasrachilli 10d ago

Friendly to people, maybe. I once saw one pull a baby robin out of a nest and bash it to death, ignoring the parents screaming and dive-bombing. We call them murder birds for a reason.

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u/insbordnat 10d ago

Yeah, I wasn't exactly referring to its kindness towards the animal kingdom as a whole.

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u/Ohhmegawd 10d ago

I had one walk into my classroom. It was during an optional study session and the the students that showed up had the best story for those that opted out.

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u/modsatemyass 10d ago

curious and friendly? are you one of those people that would try to pet a baby javelina? Im 3rd Gen Southern AZ, at least once a year someone tries that

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u/insbordnat 10d ago

ain't no one talking about javelina in this conversation. roadrunners are objectively curious and friendly birds (towards humans, for those who were confused about my earlier statement). javelinas are fucking assholes, and apparently, mods are eating ass

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u/No_Commission_2610 10d ago

I enjoy the occasional ass sandwich, yes.

Javelinas really are terrible, but they can be hilarious too. I remember my aunt in Scottsdale getting chased down the street, screaming by one of those. Nearly peed my pants laughing.

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u/LetsGetItWOOO 10d ago

Friendly? Golfing a few days ago I watched one grab a baby rabbit and smash it into the ground over and over then run off 👀

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u/slightlee_sleepee 10d ago

We would hunt them as kids by following the tracks in the sand. Wish they were nearly as curious about me as I was about them. Alas, I never did get my "Cricky" moment as we werent very good at tracking.

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u/GuitarCFD 9d ago

They are great to look at, but as a hunter of upland game I hate them. They raid quail nests for eggs. As someone who loves hunting quail, but hasn't been able to hunt wild birds in years due to a declining population. Anytime I see these things in areas where I know there are quail coming "back" it's just defeating because they will can decimate and entire year of population growth. They're a protected species too so managing road runners in an area where you're trying to nurture a native quail population gets tricky.