As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Nature & You: Snake-eating bird is welcome addition to neighborhoods

The world of my youth is not the same world I inhabit today.

Some things, today, are a whale of a lot better than they were before I could grow chin whiskers.

Take, for example, that bird called the roadrunner. In central Oklahoma, this bird's population has gone from "pretty well scarce" to "observed on a fairly frequent basis."

Central Oklahoma is not over-run with desert, rattlesnakes, scorpions and cactus. Nevertheless, more and more of these fascinating birds are taking up residence in our neighborhoods.

I welcome the sight of a roadrunner. They are a comical bird that is fun to watch. As their name suggests, they rarely take flight.

A nature enthusiast with good outdoor detective skills can get quite adept at discerning their atypical footprint in the dust and sand; i.e., two toes forward and two toes back (as if someone with a whimsical bent stamped a bunch of "X’s" in the earth).

Count yourself fortunate if you, perchance, should happen to catch sight of this feathered speedster.

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