Californian cuckoo-plantain - an excellent runner

The California cuckoo-plantain is a bird belonging to the Cuckoo family. It dwells in desert and semi-desert zones located in the north of Mexico and in the southern part of the United States. Has several names: Californian cuckoo running, California earthen cuckoo, and in Latin - Geococcyx californianus. If you translate the English name, you get a "road runner". And this is not accidental: at a time when carriages and carriages were the main vehicle, the birds fled after them, catching the alarmed living creatures.

The adult cuckoo-plantain, measured from the beak to the tail, can reach 60 cm. Due to the mobile way of life, the legs and tail are long. The position of the toes on the legs is specific: two forward and two back. Thanks to this structure, the bird does not get bogged down in loose soil. Her wings are short, so she can not rise above 2 meters above the ground.

The tail, which accounts for almost half of the total length, performs the functions of the helm and brake (if necessary). Back, chest, head and crest are decorated with nature in brown tones with white impregnations. Belly and neck are light. The key is bent downwards. In general, the Californian cuckoo looks very interesting. Photos show all its attractiveness.

The bird does not practically change its habitat, it runs along the selected territory. For this quality it was carried to sedentary birds. It can run at a speed of more than 40 km / h. Flies reluctantly, in extreme cases, able to stay in the air for a short time, measured in seconds. The sounds emanate quiet, similar to cooing, and only as needed. Relations with the kinsmen tolerated, there was not a squabble between them.

At night, the bird falls into a kind of "hibernation", since it has areas of the body called dark spots that are not covered with feathers, due to which it reacts sharply to the temperature of the surrounding environment. Waking up with the first rays of the sun, it spreads its wings and warms up, coming to a normal state.

The cuckoo-plantain feeds on rodents, snakes, insects, lizards, small relatives and snails. The latter eats, cleansing of the shell. Speed is enough for her even to catch a small viper. Its prey, it strikes its head on the ground and swallows it whole.

Cuckoo-plantain - a loner by nature. Vapors are formed only during the breeding season. A compact nest is always built together and only on a hill, for example, on a bush or cactus. A female can lay 2 to 9 eggs, it all depends on the amount of food.

It differs from representatives of its family in that it does not throw eggs into other people's nests. Nasizhivaniem them, as well as the subsequent feeding, engaged in both the female and the male. The food is brought to the chicks by the one they feed themselves. The nestlings do not stay long in the nest, after a week the kids run briskly on the ground, seeking food.

Cuckoo-plantain easily domesticated. In Mexico, it is tamed so that it cleanses yards from rodents, small snakes, etc. It is noticed that, like a cat, sometimes it plays with its prey, popping and catching it. Meat, its Mexicans are occasionally used for medicinal purposes.

Here is such an unusual bird - cuckoo-plantain. Amazing creation of nature!