Pat Bean's blog

“A rare experience of a moment at daybreak, when something in nature seems to reveal all consciousness, cannot be explained at noon. Yet it is part of the day’s unity.” – Charles Ives.

Bird Talk

Greater roadrunner -- Photo by Joanne Kamo http://www.pbase.com/jitams

I bird when I drive. While I can’t identify every bird that comes in view through my windshield, I have learned the tricks to identifying many. A red tail glinting in the sunlight from a large overhead bird is most certainly a red-tailed hawk.

Brown birds with yellow throats that flash white on their tails as they dash away are meadowlarks. Kestrels present a hunched profile as they sit on wires. Northern Harriers have a broad white band on their rumps as they circle above, and mockingbirds flash white on their wings and tails as they swoop from one tree to the next.

Looney Tunes' version of the roadrunner

I saw all these birds and more this week as I drove through Texas’ Hill Country. They’re birds I see on almost every drive I take through the Lone Star State landscape.

What I don’t see often are greater roadrunners, like the pair I saw just outside of the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area on Friday. Since I don’t see them as often, the sight of them thrilled me more than did all the others I saw this day.

It’s sad that the rare bird takes the attention away from the more common, yet just as fantastic bird. It’s human nature – and of course we’re not just talking birds here.

The underdog: Wile E. Coyote as Looney Tunes saw him.

The sight of the roadrunners took me back to my childhood – and the Looney Tunes’ cartoons about Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner. The funny looking bird always came out on top, which is probably why I always rooted for the coyote. Back then I felt more in tune with underdogs than winners – most kids do, I think.

Today I root for them both. The roadrunner because I’m passionate about all birds and the coyote because I admire this animal’s will to survive in the face of human development.

The truth is I’ve actually seen more wild coyotes than I have roadrunners. The pair I saw Friday only brings my total sightings of greater roadrunners up to about a dozen. But since more of my birding is taking place in Texas these days, I expect that number will begin increasing.

Wouldn’t that be fun. Beep, beep!