About the Roadrunner

This beautiful Southwest bird is referred to as the "Clown of the Desert" by some as it is a very clever and funny bird to watch. He prefers to run rather than fly, and can run as fast as twenty miles per hour. he loves the hot weather. He has eye shadow around his eyes. It might just be where the fad came from.

Roadrunners love to eat small lizards and snakes. Lizards are caught in the beak then pounded against a rock until dead, then eaten.

In Mexico, roadrunner meat is sometimes eaten. They say that when God finished making the birds he had some feathers, long bones, beaks and feet left over, so he put them all together and the result is the (Paisano) or Roadrunner.

There is a story going around in Arizona that is believed by some and doubted by others that the Roadrunner can build a fence of cactus around a sleeping rattlesnake and thus trap, kill, and eat him. (See pic below.)

It is said that a stew of roadrunner meat is good for tuberculosis. It is also good for backaches, itches, boils, lung problems, and leprosy... Another health tip from your esteemed editor (smile).

Bill Gibson
The Flat Tortilla,
Fall 1985