Yes, that’s a roadrunner, and yes, we’re still in Kansas

WICHITA, Kan. — Birds are common around farmsteads, where assorted sparrows and cardinals can find food and shelter. But the 2-foot-long bird that’s a regular at Mike Thompson’s farm often stops visitors in their tracks.

“Most people have never seen a roadrunner around here, so it kind of surprises them,” said Thompson, who lives about 25 miles south of downtown Wichita. “We looked out the window (about two years ago), and he was coming down the driveway. He’s been here ever since.”

While most Kansas residents’ only exposure to roadrunners is the animated kind on cartoons, the birds are living well in parts of the state.

Max Thompson, Mike’s brother and a retired Southwestern College biology professor, said that roadrunners have been in the lower part of south-central Kansas since at least the 1950s and that the main roadrunner range is mainly in the southern tier of counties.

For more than 40 years, Ken Brunson has watched the roadrunner population increase around Pratt and south through the Red Hills. Once a “guess-what-I saw-today” kind of animal, they’re now much more common.

“Anymore they’re a regular occurrence,” said Brunson, who has been a biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks for nearly 40 years. “I think it’s a sign of climate change that’s allowed them to move further north because of the milder winters.”

While he often sees them in remote areas, Brunson, like Mike Thompson, can often look out his window and see a roadrunner. Brunson said roadrunners adapt quickly to life around humans. They’ve learned to catch mice around buildings and feedlots. The carnivorous birds also will hide near bird feeders and grab small birds.

Like the animated version, wild roadrunners can be entertaining.

“They’re goofy birds — that’s why I love them,” Brunson said. “They’re very personable and so very curious. We’ve had them come up and try to make friends with their reflection in a (glass) door. We’ve had them jump in the cab of a pickup or onto the seat of a tractor to investigate things.”