Roadrunner - Beep-beep!!

Photo from www.desertusa.com

What desert tale would not include the famous roadrunner?  Though I have never been able to get a decent picture, I have seen these interesting birds all over our Scottsdale neighborhood, especially near the washes and desert preserve.  The "ground cuckoos" run, just like in the cartoon, but doesn't make a beep-beep sound, instead they make 6-8 dove-like coos.  They run because they are so heavy that they can only fly for a short time, when frightened (apparently when they see my camera!)  Roadrunners are the fastest bird, running at speeds of up to 17 mph, often with dinner hanging from their mouths.  They are fast enough to catch rattlesnakes, hummingbirds and dragonflies.  Imagine a roadrunner, wings splayed out like a matador's cape, circling around a rattlesnake.  He grabs it by the tail, whips it against the ground until it is dead, then eats it whole.  Of course, he can't eat the whole thing, so it hangs out of his mouth most of the day, where he will ingest about one inch at a time.  One interesting desert adaptation fact:  the roadrunner absorbs most of the water from his feces before he eliminates.  Inquiring minds would want to know.