I did it

This is totally off the beaten path, but it’s nice to change it up once in a while and give you some desert news, other than we’re burning up from the heat here.  LOL.  I’m talking seriously hot here.  It’s been at least 110 every day for the last two weeks.  Somedays it was higher than that and we did hit 116 one day.  Everything is suffering from the heat.  We’ll see if any of the landscaping survives this summer.

Over the last few weeks I’ve watched a pair of roadrunners collecting dead lawn pieces and twigs in our yard.  I knew they were building a nest.  So I kept my eye on them and eventually had a clue that the nest was on the vacant lot next door.  There are some very big tamarisk trees over there. 

I googled roadrunners to find out about their nesting habits.  I’d totally be having withdrawals if google didn’t exist. 

He's proud of his hunting skills

Late this afternoon, the male was over in the yard hunting and drinking water.  He caught a lizard and went straight to the vacant lot, so I decided to go and investigate.  I’ve wanted to do that anyway, but it’s been so blasted hot that it’s like stepping into a furnace to go outdoors.  Today we had lots of clouds, so it only got to 105.  I decided to brave it.

Well I found the nest right away about eight or nine feet up in one of the tamarisk trees.  I took about a dozen pics but it’s so brushy in there that I could only get so close.  I wish I had a ladder and could get in there to see the inside of the nest, but one of the roadrunners was sitting in there.  It’s so brushy I don’t think I could even get a ladder through all the stuff anyway.  And I would hate to scare the parents off, although roadrunners don’t seem to be afraid of much.  However, nesting birds might be different.

 Probably hard to make out, but the bird is there on the nest

 

This isn’t a very good pic but if you look closely you’ll be able to see the head and beak of one of the parents in the nest.  I did what I could with my small camera.

If I have it figured right, the young chicks should hatch between July 4 and the 15^th.  But I read they only stay with the parents for two weeks and then disperse into the desert on their own.  They must grow up quickly.  And I bet you didn’t know that the parents will actually eat the runts of the newly hatched birds.  Roadrunners are brutal birds.  Perhaps calling the young ones chicks is too nice a name for them.