California plantain-cuckoo - bird, belonging to the family of Kukushkovye.She inhabits arid and semiarid areas in northern Mexico and southern United States.It has several names: the California jogging cuckoo, Greater Roadrunner, and Latin - Geococcyx californianus.If we translate the English name, you get a "Road Runner."And it is no coincidence: at a time when the main means of transport were coaches and carriages, birds ran after them, catching animals alarmed.
adult cuckoo-plantain, measured from beak to tail, can reach 60 cm. In connection with a mobile lifestyle legs and tail is long.Location toes specific: two forward and two steps back.With this structure, the bird does not get bogged down in loose soil.Wings of her short, so higher than 2 meters above the ground it can not rise.
tail, which accounts for almost half of the total length, serves as the steering and brakes (if necessary).Back, breast, head and crest decorated by nature in shades of brown with white patches.Belly and neck bright.The key is bent downward.In general, it is very interesting to look Californian cuckoo.Photos show all of its appeal.
bird habitats practically does not change, it runs on the chosen territory.For this quality of it attributed to the sedentary birds.It can run at a speed of 40 km / h.Flies reluctantly, in extreme cases, can stay in the air for a short time, measured in seconds.Sound publishes a quiet, similar to the cooing, and only as needed.Relations with neighbors tolerant, fights between them was observed.
At night, the bird falls into a kind of "hibernation", t. To. The parts of the body is called dark spots, uncoated feathers, thereby sharply reacts to ambient temperature.Waking up with the first sunlight, it spreads its wings and warming up, coming to a normal state.
feeds cuckoo-plantain rodents, snakes, insects, lizards, snails and small relatives.Latest eating, cleaning the sink.Speed it even enough for it to catch a medium-sized viper.It hits its prey head on the ground and swallows entirely.
Cuckoo-plantain - a loner by nature.Couples are formed only during the breeding season.Compact nest is always built together and only on a hill, for example, on the bush or cactus.Female can lay from 2 to 9 eggs, it all depends on the amount of food.
differs from members of their family so that the eggs do not jump into the wrong slot.The incubating them, as well as the subsequent feeding, are engaged in and the female and male.They bring the food to the young, which feed on themselves.The chicks in the nest for a long time do not stay, already a week the kids playfully running around on the ground, searching for food.
Cuckoo-plantain easily domesticated.In Mexico, it tame to it clears yards from rodents, small snakes, and so on. N. It has been observed that it is like a cat, sometimes plays with his prey, tossing and catching it.Meat Mexicans rarely use it for medicinal purposes.
That such an unusual bird - Cuckoo-plantain.An amazing creation of nature!
