We have a roadrunner! I think it’s a Greater Roadrunner. I’ll do my best to get a better picture of it but for a week or so, Vince and I would see something and say “I think I saw a roadrunner” but he was quick and we never got a good view of it. Over the past few weeks, it has gotten to where it isn’t nearly so afraid of us. We certainly can’t get close to it but I see it several times each day. In fact, it scares the heck out of me several times a day!
Yesterday I opened the back door and it must have been real near the porch because it ran right in front of me. I went back in the house and got the camera and it’s hard to see it but it’s under the tree.
Roadrunner
It almost always runs to the same spot in the woods so I’m wondering if there’s a nest over there.
Roadrunner
I think he’s trying to fix his hair like Vince fixes his! 🙂
The neighbor told me she’s seen them in their backyard eating grasshoppers. Yay! They are so funny to watch . . roadrunners, not grasshoppers!
Speaking of grasshoppers . . do you know what I’ve resorted to doing?
Grasshoppers
Yes the girly girl who always had shoes, earrings and other accessories to match every outfit; who always had perfectly manicured nails . . is now squishing grasshoppers with her bare hands! Yesterday I set a record . . 27 grasshoppers squished from one apricot tree. The one I’m holding in the photo is a small one .. some are 2 or 3″ long . . really! They are about to drive me nuts. I wish we had more roadrunners!
Helene says
Ugh – squishing grasshoppers with your bare hands. I should not be reading this at lunch time. Excuse me a moment while I leave this blog post.
Pam in KC says
I seem to remember being told in field training grasshoppers were a good source of protein. Having said that, I passed up the opportunity to earn merit points and let someone else in my group eat the bug.
Pamela Johnson says
Judy, that is AWESOME!! The roadrunner, not so much the squishing..????…..We’ve had a pair of road runners the past couple of years, they keep nesting in the same area…..never see the babies……you do know that they are snake eaters……the best!!!!????
Linda says
When I saw the heading “beep, beep”, my first thought was Judy saw a roadrunner. lol They are fast. I had one beuild a nest about 2 feet off the ground in a pear tree. Babies are ugly, lol. Yes, they do kill snakes. Mine used to sit on top of a fence post most of the time.
Linda says
forgot to add…. we used to catch grasshoppers for fish bait. worked pretty good too. I wonder if you can freeze them like the catalpa worms, another great fish bait. They are tough, the fish can’t steal them off the hook.
Glen in Louisiana says
When my parents lived in El Paso they had road runners all the time in the yard. And the meteor showers were spectacular since they lived half way up the mountain!
Denise ~ justquiltin says
Are you sure it was a fox you saw and not a Wiley Coyote to chase that roadrunner?? 😉
kaholly says
Hurray for Roadrunners! I remember seeing lots of them when I was a kid traveling through TX. Then as an adult, I lived in N. TX for years and never saw one. Last year when I went back to my old town to visit, what did I see?
They are an amazing bird.
Crazy Sue says
When I was a little girl my grandmother would give me an old bread bag. I would pick up the grasshoppers, put them all in a bag and then stomp on the bag and toss in the trash.
Road runners are so cool!
Mary-Kay says
That road runner is pretty cool. To be able to see that kind of wild life. The grass hopper is a beautiful yellow, too bad they’re such a nuisance. I wonder if there’s some kind of way to breed a few more road runners or a way to attract more to help keep down the grasshopper population. When I was a kid and we’d walk through the field to go home from school, the grasshoppers would jump all over us. They were such an ugly green colour and they’d poop in your hand if you caught one. They’re still gross and I’ll leave the squishing to you.
AngieG9 says
I didn’t think they were real — just cartoon characters. If they eat hoppers and snakes I think I would try to raise a flock of them. And yeck! Squishing a hopper in your fingers looks so disgusting. Deep fry them and dip them in chocolate. They should taste better that way and you wouldn’t have hopper guts all over your hands.
Cathy says
All together now………eeeeeeeuuuuuuuwwwwwww!!! I can’t even begin to imagine picking up a grasshopper in my hand, let alone squishing it!! But then I’m not mad at them for eating my garden, either. I suppose if I got mad enough at them, I could do it.
Laura says
We have roadrunners here in central California – they’re fun to watch. Our university even has the roadrunner as its mascot.
Carol says
I noticed grasshoppers on my basil plants yesterday. And I know they will be worse after my husband mows the wildflower patch in back of our lot mid summer. But squish in my hand? No mam!
Sherrill says
Roadrunners are AWESOME! There’s some info about them (they’re part of the cuckoo family!!) and a place where you can listen to the sounds they make. Maybe you hear them sometimes and don’t even realize it’s the roadrunner…
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/id
Susan says
Time to run over to NM and snatch a few – probably illegal as it’s the state bird, but it would be helpful! Maybe there is a nest and they will hatch, and need lots and lots of grasshoppers!
Teri says
Wow….I thought I was brave…..NOT….I would not squish grasshoppers with my bare hands, but I have found .living in the country you do many more things than you ever thought you would….way to go girl…..
Ranch Wife says
LOL. You go Girl! I am smitten with roadrunners. We had one particular one that hung around the house when we lived in the Davis Mountains. We named him Charlie. Now we have one here as well…his name is George. I even bought a statue of a roadrunner when we left Texas because I wanted to remember Charlie. George is fat and we don’t even have any grasshoppers around here. I hope your roadrunner rounds up all of his friends and they come over for a grasshopper fiesta!
Amy says
Minus the creepy-crawler insects, you have a fascinating place to live. I started reading your blog from the Christmas mystery quilt, but love hearing all about your farm and daily happenings….. thanks for blogging.
Linda Steller says
LOL – my sister lives out in a more countrified area near me and she gets slugs all the time. When she retired, they gave her a fancy letter opener (odd gift), but she uses it to stab slugs! ;D
Freda Henderson says
You are a country girl for sure now!!! Not everyone can squish grasshoppers with their bare hands.