dduncan

My wife and I will be retiring and moving to New Mexico soon.

Do any NM natives have any tips for getting a photo of a Road Runner?
Every time I have seen them, they appear, then are gone in a millisecond.
Hard to get a shot off.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

Try borrowing some of Wylie’s Acme glue and gluing the roadrunner’s little feet to the desert.🌵🌵

Quixdraw Loc: x

I have gotten a few good ones in Botanical Gardens, Sanctuaries, etc. - places they are somewhat accustomed to people.

NMGal Loc: NE NM

The best way is as quixdraw says above. If you spot them in the wild, consider yourself lucky. If he is still there when you get the camera up, you are doubly blessed.

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

Actually many times the RR will freeze several seconds if he sees you and then take off.

BJ in OKla Loc: No Water Oklahoma

Here you go...
We have a friend that lives in N.M. and she took these with her cell phone.
Bj

wwright Loc: Tucson

Here in AZ they are all over the golf courses. You can tell the ones that are accustomed to being fed, they actually follow you around. I've found the hard part is catching them in action. They are actually pretty vicious carnivores. This time of year the baby quail are like hors d’oeuvres for them. Its both funny and sad to watch the parent quail trying to decide whether to chase the road runner that took the baby, or run with the other babies. You will probably find more of them in southern NM, than northern. On a side note, hiking in the Jemez you can get some great beaver pictures.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Patience!

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

They're pretty tame in my neighborhood. I once was working in the garden, looked up, and one was sitting on the fence two feet from my head. Scared the bejezus out of me!

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Hi, duncan,
When I lived in in East Texas (Brazos County) i inadvertently invented a “roadrunner feeder”. An avid bird feeder, I had numerous seed feeders suspended from wires strung between cedar and pecan trees in second growth woodland cleared of encroaching yaupon ( a fast-growing, smooth-leafed holly). To keep the squirrels from climbing the trees to the wires (whence they could get access to the feeders) I installed 24” wide sheet aluminum “squirrel climbing discouragers” around the trunks of the trees from which the wires were strung, as well as around other trees giving branch access to the “feeder trees”.

Turned out the irregular spaces in the surface of the bark under the aluminum were ideal retreats for anole and skink lizards. They frequently could be seen peeking out from under the the edge of the metal, or simply relaxing half-way exposed..apparently while deciding whether to call it a day, or which way to head for a meal.

A local roadrunner made the connection and had a daily route whereby he checked out each and every one of the aluminum-clad trunks for any accessible lizards.

Roadrunners DO love lizards.

Dave

HamB

Meep, meep!

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Many museums out west have STUFFED road runners and they are set in a diorama that will look natural. Use a long lens to blur the background and correct for white balance.

sr71 Loc: In Col. Juan Seguin Land

Not my feet you don't!!! Wylie E Coyote!!

the f/stops here Loc: New Mexico

I see RR whenever I get to the Botanic Gardens in Albuquerque or Santa Fe NM. No predators including you.

Quixdraw Loc: x

Seen & photographed both places. Desert / cactus flowers great as well - early or late light.