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Know anything about the giant roadrunner made out of junk?
It's located at the I-10 rest area just west of Las Cruces - anyone who travels that way has seen it many times, I'm sure. I recently stopped to take a few photos of it and upon researching info about it, there wasn't much.
Who made it?
When was it transported to the rest area? (I read it was assembled near the former site of the city dump)
How long has it been there?
The Olin Calk junk sculpture Roadrunner is my favorite piece of public art in the LC area. This is a pretty detailed article and should answer all your questions. I love it that people are adding graffitti to the tennis shoes. Last year I saw one written by a friend of mine. D* e* s* e* r* t**** E* x* p* o
We've got a tubular mesh birdfeeder in the back yard that attracts a LOT of birds; finches,
doves, a few sparrows and the inevitable pigeons. We go through about 25-35 pounds of
birdseed a week so we're obviously a popular stop for the local birds' foodie Meetup groups.
Yesterday I saw a roadrunner with a small bird in its beak as it ran along our back wall and
today I spotted it in an obvious hunting posture and watched it do its thing.
There were about 8-10 doves and the same number of finches in the yard on the feeder,
on the ground nearby and in a small tree that overhangs the feeder. The roadrunner
stayed frozen about 20 feet away for several minutes, then charged scattering most
of the birds. The odd thing was that it didn't seem to have charged as fast as it could
have; I've seen them move much faster.
The roadrunner was now a couple feet from our rear wall as well as the small tree where
it froze in place facing the tree. Again, it did not move for several minutes, and
eventually most of the birds returned and it slowly raised its head in a fixed stare at
one finch on a lower branch.
The finch bobbled around a bit for a minute, then settled in watching the doves on the
feeder and waiting its turn. The roadrunner never ceased to watch the finch and v-e-r-y
slowly shifted its position until it was facing directly toward it.
Quickly and quietly, it took a half dozen steps forward and then froze again, now directly
under the finch which was about six feet above it. Again, a minute went by and then the
roadrunner launched straight up nailing the finch from below.
A couple quick slams on the ground and the finch was done.
The whole stalk took at least 7-8 minutes and it's hard to emphasize just how absolutely
methodical the roadrunner was. I really think that first, somewhat slow charge was never
intended to actually result in a capture, it was to scatter the birds, allow the roadrunner
to better position itself and to then wait out the birds' return to the feeder whereupon
sooner or later some bird would place itself in a vulnerable position. It was obvious that
the roadrunner knew where the finch's blind spots were and carefully positioned itself to
take advantage of them resulting in an unexpected attack from below.
Wow, Thats quite a post and quite an observation! Thank you Mike....
I once saw a roadrunner attempt to go after a swallows nest that was under my front door. What was interesting is that ALL the other swallows went after the roadrunner. It was like they formed an instant community as there were at least 10 of them and then they all dove bombed the roadrunner to scare it off. It worked too.... no baby birds were harmed, at least from what I saw.
I had a video floating around here in the forum of a Road Runner eating some type of bird.
Rich
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Know anything about the giant roadrunner made out of junk?
