Road Runners, Deer and Coyotes – Oh My!

Last fall we saw a deer grazing in the tall grass beneath our trees. Our orchard is a great place to graze because we don’t spray harmful chemicals and we allow our grass to grow tall to give beneficial insects a place to live. When you’re organic it’s important to have ladybugs and other beneficial insects because they help control the pests who can harm the trees and the pecans.

We also have a local road runner. There are probably more than one, but we only ever see one at a time. We call him Rodney. I’m not sure if most people know this or not, but road runners are omnivorous. They eat seeds, like in the cartoon, but they also eat bugs, baby birds, snakes and small lizards. We’d love to see a baby road runner, but so far that hasn’t happened.

We do occasionally see quail with their babies. We love seeing those little birds and the way they run. The top knot on the males is also impressive. We’ve never been quick enough to catch their movement on film, but I bet you can look it up online if you’re interested.

We managed to capture the road runner and deer on film, but one creature we likely won’t be able to capture in a photo is the coyote. We have bands of coyotes that sometimes come through the orchard after dark. Coyotes have a distinctive loud, high pitched yip. Once you’ve heard it you will recognize it if you hear it again. A group came through on New Year’s Eve and made quite a ruckus. They sounded like a band of party-goers who’d had a bit too much to drink and were “singing” their way home.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the photos. Stay tuned for more.