Road Runner

Texas is known for their Road Runners…

No, not their Hockey Team, or the cute Loony Tunes cartoon from Warner Brothers, but the bird.

Being one of the strangest families in the bird world, the roadrunner's short, rounded wings allow it to glide to the ground from tree perches or leap into the air when startled. Their tail feathers also are graduated in size, with the shortest ones on the outer edges, and the males and females within each species look alike. Another family trait can be seen in the tracks, which look like X's. This strange track, which makes it hard to tell whether the birds are coming or going, occurs because their feet have two toes pointing forward and two pointing back. This arrangement enables them to climb and grasp.

The roadrunner and its track have inspired many beliefs and superstitions. J. Frank Dobie, noted folklorist and perhaps the roadrunner's greatest fan, wrote that the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico drew the bird's track on the ground near the tent of their dead to mislead evil spirits trying to follow the departed soul. To ward off the henchmen of the "Bad God," Plains Indians often hung the whole skin of a roadrunner over their lodge door.