Greater Roadrunner in Canon City

I stopped by the MacKenzie bridge for about 20 minutes this morning to look for the Common Black Hawk. It hasn't been seen for a week, but I have been out of town for most or all day since then, and there have been few other birders to look for it so it is unclear if it might still be around.

One other birder from out of the area stopped by for a short time to also look for the hawk. He mentioned having seen a Greater Roadrunner for the first time right near the Fremont County line off High Park Rd north of Canon City. Only about 5 minutes later as I turned to look to the south of the bridge to see if the hawk might be flying past as it has done in the past, there was a Greater Roadrunner walking across MacKenzie Ave only about 15 feet south of the bridge. The roadrunner looked at me, and I stood quite still so it would resume its travel across the road as I could hear vehicles coming. The roadrunner disappeared into the weedy area on the side of the road.

This is not where I am accustomed to seeing roadrunners--adjacent to the riparian area with hay fields for quite a distance on both sides of the road. Of course, the Arkansas River makes a great corridor for a variety of wildlife that are moving through the area. And Birds of North America notes that they are found in woodland areas and occasionally in open farmlands so I guess it wasn't as unusual for the bird to be in the area where I saw it.

SeEtta