Encounter with a Texas Roadrunner!

[Chasmorgan]

Well I did what Wylie Coyote has been trying to do for years..... I got a Road Runner with my trailer! On my way to the Great Castell Kayak Race on the Llano and had a Road Runner fly into my trailer. I guess I'm just lucky because you hardly ever see one fly! Any suggestions! Dent is about he size of a basketball. Guess I'll call my insurance agent!

[RichHog]

I'm sure you can get a roadrunner decal or emblem painted over it to commemorate the experience. Meep Meep!

[Albatrill]

wow, I have lived in Texas half my life and have never seen a road runner, did not think a 300 gram (10.5oz) bird could put such an enormous dent in a trailer!

Greater Roadrunner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[azflycaster]

I see roadrunners in the desert, but I have never seen one fly more then a foot or two off the ground and for very short distances. Lucky you...

[vswingfield]

Back when I lived near Austin, I worked with a crew installing a flagstone patio around a pool at a house in Wimberley. Early every morning a roadrunner would fly up to the peak of the roof (1-story ranch) to catch the early morning rays. It would sit up there in the sun and sing like a songbird.

Only time I've seen anything like it. We had roadrunners in western Arkansas where I grew up too, but that was the only time I've seen one more than a couple of feet off the ground myself. Certainly the only time I've heard more that a squawk from one.

[Pahaska]

We have some resident roadrunners around the house. They can get quite tame and I can get quite near them.

A roadrunner went running past my office window this afternoon, carrying a snake in its beak. The snake was probably 15" long and dragged on the ground on both sides of the bird.

I have often seen them perched in the high branches of the live oak trees in my back yard. They can soar pretty high, especially when they are startled.

[mojo]

I used to have one of those Roadrunners. Top speed was about 160.

[vswingfield]

Originally Posted by mojo

I used to have one of those Roadrunners. Top speed was about 160.

Nice, but once you get it up high enough to dent one of the curved panels on the top of an Airstream you have problems of your own. Especially at 160.

[funkill]

Check this out for a repair:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f381...res-64383.html

Laura

[Chasmorgan]

Bummer my deductible is $500! Does anyone know where I can get a suction cup device like they use to handle glass?

[Distantdrummer]

I'm sad to say I think your 500 deductible is a good deal here. I think that repair is gonna be over a thousand. As for the suction devices, I think Harbor Freight sells one. Don't think it is gonna work to your satisfaction (if at all). Sorry.
How bout your old toilet bowl plunger for a start. I'd use a scaffold (or pickup bed) instead of a laddder or we might next be exploring your hospitalization deductable.

Oh, and I am horrified to think that type of dent can come from any bird short of a condor or at least a Texas Buzzard, which by the way is something that often fly up at a last minute after staying for one last gulp of road-kill. I slow and honk as soon as I see a buzzard on or near road ahead. Not sure the honking helps.

[rustyrivet]

I guess the only good news is that it wasn't a wild turkey. I saw a Honda Civic that hit a wild turkey and it damaged the grille the hood, shattered the windshield and pulled the roof down. I would guess the damage was probably about $5000. Amazing how much damage a bird can do. jc

[Chasmorgan]

The estimate is in and would you believe that little feathered friend did $2100 of damage! Yes my $500 deductible does look better now!

[ebair]

"As God as my witness,I thought turkeys could fly" Gorden Jump, WKRP in Cincinnati

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by Albatrill

wow, I have lived in Texas half my life and have never seen a road runner, did not think a 300 gram (10.5oz) bird could put such an enormous dent in a trailer!

Greater Roadrunner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I've lived in Texas all my life and have rarely been more surprised than to have seen one just a few miles north of downtown Dallas a few years ago outside a friends home (Lakewood) . . much more than a dozen miles from "rural" suburbia where even then I thought the local climate not to their liking (drier and farther west I thought).

Impressive hit.