If the state bird of New Mexico was anything other than the roadrunner, someone was not doing their job. There is a certain “Looney Tunes” influence working here which gives this particular bird a bit more cache if you know what I mean. Really, you cannot hear the name without thinking of the epic Roadrunner vs. Wile E. Coyote battles. Having now been to New Mexico, all those backgrounds from the cartoon come to life including the mountain passes drop offs which created the mrsfabp squeal I grew so fond of on this trip (NOT!)
I asked our friends if there was a good spot or way to see a roadrunner in the wild. Unfortunately unlike whale watches where the prey is a tad bigger and the boat captains offer promises, there are no guarantees in bird watching or roadrunner spotting. The Zees told us “Look along the desert highway, maybe you’ll see one.”
Seven days into our visit, it happened. We went to Cloudcroft for some fancy shopping and even fancier lunch at The Lodge there. Great food, nice mimosas and incredible views. As we left we decided on a circuitous route through Alamogordo to get to Ruidoso. One twisting, turning, fast dropping road down the mountain later, we were back in the desert on a side road pulling into town, when it happened. Two roadrunners sped across the black top and into the brush on the side of the road. We were able to quickly stop and began looking for them. Despite their relative lack of size, and wonderful color camouflage, we spotted them. We tried our best to snap off a couple of pictures (like 20 of them) but they are just a bit to fast and well suited to their environment to get the show stopping shot. Hopefully you can see something. I promise that when you come out to visit, (and you are ALL invited), I will guarantee a roadrunner sighting, even if we have to go to the zoo to do it.
I have included a couple of pictures we got of our roadrunner encounter but you must remember, they are fast and camouflaged well. The pictures has been enhanced for your viewing pleasure (click on the pix to embiggen!)
4 comments:
One of those RR pictures is great. Did you take that one?
Hey, I've been reading your blog and trying to comment. Really had a hard time trying to not use my blogspot account and trying to use my wordpress account and it just doesn't work. So I made a new one.
Anyway. You write really well. Easy readable prose. Actually you both do.
Its good stuff. Keep it up.
That first one is a wonderful roadrunner shot! We saw one the other day when Buck and I were biking along the Rio Grande, He was very cooperative and stood around forever, patiently striking poses for me. And where was the camera? Back home, of course.
I snapped away with my phone, but the results were very disappointing. Just some big sky with mountains in the distance and brush in the foreground. Just not enough resolution to make out the little guy.
I am enjoying your Las Cruces series immensely.
Glad you are enjoying it, I am too. To steal a line from James Taylor - "In my mind, I'm going to ...Las Cruces. Can't you see the sun shine, can't you just see the moon shine..." This morning I am "visiting" the LC with Pinon coffee while 8 inches of snow piles up in my driveway! Uggggg. Miss you and the gang, miss the LC, miss the sun and roadrunners and the patio and the GCCB...you get the idea, right.
mrsfabp and I both grabbed photos, it is difficult to say which is which but I think the parking lot ones were mine. needed a bit of photoshop tho' thanks to milliejupiter, to enlarge so you could see um.
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