Overrun with roadrunners

This roadrunner is looking at the cats through the big windows in the back

This sure has been the case over the last month.  We’ve had five of them hunting aggressively in our yard and surrounding desert.  Most of the lizards are gone.  I imagine they probably became lunch, or dinner, for these hungry guys.

Roadrunner taking a rest on the wall

At first we were very surprised to see so many at one time because a pair is the most we’ve seen at once since we’ve lived here.  Then we began to think it was the parents showing their “kids” how to hunt. 

If you remember last year I wrote a post about a roadrunner nest in a tree on the vacant lot next door.  I think the little rascals have probably built another nest over there this year and that’s why we have so many roaming about. 

The young ones aren’t really afraid of us and jump into the tree next door quite a bit.  I haven’t had time to go out there and look around for a nest, but I bet I’d find one.  This particular tree is just like the one the roadrunners nested in last year, but it’s quite bushy and thick and hangs over our wall a bit.

Here's the lizard in the fireplace

As I mentioned, we had a lizard living in the fireplace a few years ago and another one had moved in and was entertaining the cats.  It’s since disappeared.  I suspect it’s become roadrunner food.  It’s been missing about two weeks now.  The cats still look for it in the fireplace, as do we.  I like the lizards because they eat all the bugs.  And yes, we have bugs in the desert.  There are many things that survive here, which seems incredible to me.  I know it must be a hard life, but I’m sure they don’t know any different being born here.  The same situation we all had as kids, not realizing what humidity was because it was just hot in the summers.

A roadrunner proud of his catch

These roadrunners have stopped traffic once on our street that I know of.  One had caught a chipmunk and the others gave chase hoping to get some of it, I guess.  They were actually running down the road.  Traffic going by had to stop in awe.  I was off work that day and looked out just in time to see this spectacle.  I wish I had had the time to grab the camera and take a quick video.  But roadrunners run fast and they all soon disappeared onto the vacant lot next door.  I lost sight of them in the scrub brush.

Coyotes on the prowl

Among all the critters that inhabit the desert is the coyote.  We usually see them in winter months when they come to lower elevations looking for prey, although I do have a nice pic of one I took in the middle of the day during May a couple of years ago.  I was as shocked to see him as he was to see me, but he wasn’t afraid at all as I went outside with my camera.

He's in the center of this pic and hard to see

About three days ago right about sunset we saw three coyotes hunting in a pack in the back desert.  The back desert is really a part of my backyard although we have a block wall up to separate the two.  I’m sure these guys were out looking for pets in the backyards of the houses in our neighborhood.  I could only get a pic of one of them, as it watched the other two further down the bluff, because it was getting dark.  They meandered down the hill to my back wall and then went off toward the neighbors.  I prayed all the people had their pets in the house that night.  The policeman next door lets his cats run all over the neighborhood and isn’t concerned at all telling me “they have nine lives?”  What?  He makes me so disgusted because he has small kids who care for the cats and it would be devastating to them to see one run over in front of the house.  He’s very insensitive to that.  The lady on the other side of us, further down the street, lets her cats out during the day but brings them in at night.

Now we don’t know if any animals in the neighborhood became prey to these coyotes that night or not.  We had the TV on, windows closed, and it was just as well.  We’ve heard the howls in the desert on many a night since we’ve moved here and the last screams of animals that became dinner.  It sends shivers up my spine even though I know that this is nature and it’s been going on way before me and will go on way after I’m gone.  After all, animals can’t go to the grocery store like we do, can they?  It’s all about survival and you have to eat to survive.

On an unrelated note, I had a flat tire today that took up most of my day.  I haven’t had a flat in twenty or thirty years.  Even my spare tire was flat.  I was glad I have an honest mechanic I could call to the rescue because hubby was at work.  So now I have to buy a new tire and they aren’t cheap for my car.  That’s a whole other story.  At least my rim is okay and I’m safe so I’ll deal with the rest of it tomorrow.