I am working today so will keep this short and sweet. This morning, I awoke to the noisy fellow below making a racket as s/he used our backyard as his (her?) personal hunting grounds and dining facility. A quick search online and I learned that there is no easy way to identify the gender of the Greater Roadrunner from looks alone. This particular noise monger is likely a juvenile, given the gray color of his facial skin. When the roadrunner matures its facial skin becomes colored red and blue. In any event, despite the cacophony, this young bird (in the cuckoo family) was obviously happy and satiated (shout out to the memory of the fence lizard) and did not at all mind me coming within about 10 feet for a picture. He did not, however, agree to a selfie with me.
