Oleg Zabluda's blog
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
 
Roadrunner is well-known from the Wile E.
Roadrunner is well-known from the Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Few people, especially back East, know it's an actual bird - Geococcyx californianus, meaning "Californian Earth-cuckoo," the largest North American cuckoo [1]. Большая Калифорнийская земляная бегающая кукушка-подорожник. It has the fastest running speed ever clocked for flying birds (26 mph). They use the speed to run after lizards. Coyotes actually run faster in a straight line (43 mph), that must be why roadrunners didn't lose the ability to fly completely. They challenge dogs to run after them all the time for fun.

Me and Marianna Dizik saw two of them in Edgewood Park last Sunday[2]
Photos:
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/23bfWADF5nB
Track:
https://plus.google.com/112065430692128821190/posts/TcsfE2Ry6Sg

Roadrunners
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/national-geographic-channel/specials-1/untamed-americas/ngc-roadrunner-vs-rattlesnake-1/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Roadrunner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_Road_Runner

[1] The Channel-billed Cuckoo from Australia/Indonesia is slightly larger.
[2] We think. Or it was Steller's Jay and California Quail hybrid 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Roadrunner

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