You're welcome. Your roadrunner sounds quite friendly--almost as if he or she is becoming tame and that is pretty special. It sounds like Buzz feels pretty safe around you and likes to hang out near y'all. I don't have guineas any more, by the way, and won't raise any babies this year. The predator that has been taking out our birds all year long got all 4 of the remaining guineas on Monday. I've never lost four in one day. I had kept them locked up for days after we had the cougar in the yard, but finally started letting them back out to roam from about noon to 4 or 5 p.m. daily. It is so discouraging. I just don't see the point in raising a new batch of keats, though, as long as the predator pressure is this heavy. One chicken from the old flock has survived, but she is now locked up in the chicken run with the new chicks we've raised this year. She's been able to free range for as long as we've had her--probaby 5 or 6 or 7 years now, so she is miserable in the fenced in/roofed run, but at least she's alive. We have woodland on three sides of us and the predator pressure this year is the worst its ever been--I think about 20 to 22 guineas and chickens lost since January, and one Maine Coon Cat. A neighbor about a half-mile up the road has lost a chihuahua during the same time frame. There have been many times we've gone 2 or 3 years without losing a single bird, so to lose almost two dozen in 6 or 7 months is so frustrating. I don't think we'll let the chickens free-range ever again although we might build them a chicken tractor (a portable predator-proof pen with a roof over the top) so they can be moved around the yard daily to do their digging and scratching. Dawn

Hi Bubbadillo, Well, having read your post, I wonder if the roadrunner (and he was pecking at the pile of henscratch) was more interested in the little tree frogs that live in my potted plants near the garage/barn. We haven't had as many wild turkeys OR quail the last couple of years, but we've had more roadrunners........so, maybe now I understand the connection! I've never seen a roadrunner eat a snake (wouldn't that be fascinating!), but I am glad to hear that they do. We haven't had a lot of snakes around our house this year (except for the black rat snakes that have been trying, so far unsuccessfully, to eat our baby guineas). On the day that the pallet factory burned a couple of weeks ago, though, a lady who lives on Peanut Farm Road WAS bitten by a rattlensnake, and the Love County medics had to leave the fire and go to the hospital to help treat her. I find the wildlife just as fascinating as you do, and have learned (by watching) the ebb and flow of wild animal populations......for example, the way the rabbit population will go up while the coyote population is down....and then, of course, when the coyote population rises, the rabbit population drops. In our yard this year, we have a LOT more deer than usual coming to eat and drink...even having bucks come out in broad daylight, which I seldom see. I know the larger predators will follow, so I just do my best to make sure the chickens, guineas, dogs and cats are locked up securely before twilight. The only wildlife we seldom see on our own place here is the wild pigs, and I bet you have them more out west than we do here. We had them hanging out in our creekbed one year, where they wallowed and left huge holes in shallow parts of the creek. Another year, they frequented the back part of our property, which is fairly close to the Red River. I am only moderately afraid of the panthers and cougars, since they are rarely seen and the worst they've ever done here is "roar" at me at night if I am outside. The wild pigs, though, terrify me, as I am sure I couldn't outrun them. I DON'T miss the snakes at all. Normally we have a LOT of copperheads, water moccasins and velvet-tailed rattlers here, and the occasional western diamondback, but all I've seen in our yard this year are rat snakes and chicken snakes and, rarely, a green tree snake. It is the BEST snake year ever (fewest snakes seen), so I guess our cats are doing their job and keeping the number of rodents down. Dawn

Tally - Yeah, I had a lot of those same visions reading this too! :-D Too funny! I'm also remembering the character Bill Murray played in Caddy Shack - trying to get that ground squirrel or prairie dog or whatever you want to call the little rodent. As far as the road runner problem goes, when you run out of the food source, the road runners will go elsewhere. You might want to contact a local Audubon Society to find someone who can give you some help with this. Here is a link to the Audubon Society's interactive map to find a group near you. Click on the state then the dot nearest to where you live. Here is a link that might be useful: Audubon Map

Love the look of this small (glass?) tile. Anyone know who makes it?