The Roadrunner is one of the very few animals that is quick enough to prey upon rattlesnakes.

Roadrunners are members of the Cuckoo family. They are large slender ground-dwelling birds measuring 18 to 24 inches from tail to beak. They have dark brown-and-white streaked bodies with a distinctive spiky head crest and a colorful bare patch of skin behind each eye. This patch is shaded blue by the eye and fades to red towards the back of their head. The Roadrunner’s tail is long and broad with white tips on the three outer tail feathers. They have long legs, strong “zygodactyl” feet (possessing two toes in front and two toes in back), and a large dark bill. They vocalize with both a dove-like “coo” or a rapid clattering noise made with their beak.

Although capable of flight, the Roadrunner prefers to spend most of its time on the ground. Roadrunners can run at speeds of up to 20 miles per hour and generally prefer sprinting to flying. They will usually only fly to escape predators or when traveling down steep slopes. The Roadrunners diet consists of insects, small reptiles, small mammals, eggs, nestlings, fruits and seeds. They may leap in the air to catch insects or even hummingbirds, and commonly batter live prey, such as small rattlesnakes, against the ground to subdue them.