Roadie, my resident roadrunner, gets a bead on a bud on my front porch. Yes, my front porch is a mess! |
The rattle call is a very distinct, short rattle noise that sounds mysteriously nature-planetish when heard from a distance. But up close — and I’ve heard it up close — it is a loud, snapping sound. I’ve been known to startle when Roadie lets off his rattle call as I’m carefully pouring out dried mealworms on a rock for his evening snack.
I’ve also observed that the loud, close rattle call sounds somewhat like the clicker used in certain modes of dog training; from what I’ve read, it seems like a an effective training method for a variety of critters, including humans. In which case, Roadie has been quite successful in training his various providers of mealworms around the neighborhood. Because I am not the only roadrunner servant on the block!
The hu call — my term — is what the books and nature authorities describe as a dove-like cooing sound. However, I think it sounds more like an owl, but not quite. Therefore, I call it hu not hoooooo…. Then again, the big, fat white-winged doves around my place can sound like owls when they get going. So there you are!
To make sure I knew what I was talking about, I looked up roadrunner calls on The Google before I wrote this diary, and I even listened to several audio clips. Most of them did not sound like my Roadie (no, he doesn’t go beep beep...) but I did find this video that is as close to my Roadie as you can get. There are some slight variations, but I put it down to the fact that roadrunner in this video is Rudy, not Roadie.
Regarding what these calls are for … again there is disagreement among the authorities. Some say the rattle is a female call and the hu is the mating call for males, or vice versa. Some say the rattle is a begging call. Since I often hear the rattle when I walk out the front door, I take it as a greeting call ;) And once, just days ago, Roadie was running across the yard to me as I put out his mealworms. When he got about four feet from me, he gave a soft hu call. Now, I really don’t think he was hoping to mate with me. But still, I felt honored :)
And that’s what I know about roadrunner calls!
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