California plantain is a bird belonging to the Cuckoo family. It lives in desert and semi-desert zones located in the north of Mexico and in the southern part of the United States. It has several names: California running cuckoo, California ground cuckoo, and in Latin - Geococcyx californianus. If you translate the English name, you get "road runner". And this is no coincidence: at a time when carriages and carriages were the main means of transport, birds ran after them, catching alarmed living creatures.
Adult plantain cuckoo, measured from beak to tail, can reach 60 cm. Due to the mobile lifestyle, the legs and tail are long. The location of the toes is specific: two forward and two back. Thanks to this structure, the bird does not get stuck in loose soil. Her wings are short, so she cannot rise above 2 meters above the ground.
The tail, which accounts for almost half of the total length, acts as a rudder and brake (according toneed). The back, breast, head and tuft are naturally decorated in brown tones with white patches. The belly and neck are light. The key is bent down. In general, the California cuckoo looks very interesting. Photos show all her attractiveness.
The bird practically does not change its habitat, it runs around the selected territory. For this quality, she was attributed to sedentary birds. She can run at speeds over 40 km/h. It flies reluctantly, in extreme cases, it is able to stay in the air for a short time, measured in seconds. Sounds are quiet, similar to cooing, and only when needed. Relations with relatives are tolerant, there were no skirmishes between them.
At night, the bird falls into a kind of "hibernation", because it has areas of the body called dark spots, uncovered with feathers, due to which it reacts sharply to the ambient temperature. Waking up with the first rays of the sun, she spreads her wings and warms up, returning to her normal state.
The plantain cuckoo feeds on rodents, snakes, insects, lizards, small relatives and snails. The latter eats, clearing from the sink. She has enough speed even to catch a medium-sized viper. She hits her prey on the ground and swallows it whole.
The plantain cuckoo is a loner by nature. Pairs are formed only during the breeding season. A compact nest is always built together and only on a hill, for example, on a bush or cactus. The female can lay off 2up to 9 eggs, it all depends on the amount of food.
Different from members of its family in that it does not throw eggs into other people's nests. Both the female and the male are engaged in incubation of them, as well as subsequent feeding. They bring food to the chicks that they feed on themselves. The chicks do not stay in the nest for a long time, after a week the kids run briskly on the ground, looking for food.
The plantain cuckoo is easily domesticated. In Mexico, it is tamed so that it cleans the yards from rodents, small snakes, etc. It is noticed that, like a cat, it sometimes plays with its prey, throwing it up and catching it. The Mexicans occasionally use its meat for medicinal purposes.
This is such an unusual bird - the plantain cuckoo. An amazing creation of nature!
