Successful dating for the roadrunners!

Roadrunners are very picky in choosing a partner. During the period of courtship the male really goes out of his way to win the female over. He offers her food, dances around beautifully and makes quite a few sounds. When the female is interested, she too shows some striking behaviour. Once the birds have found a partner, they live together as a pair for years. Both parents incubate the eggs and together they take care of the young birds. If they do not hit it off, then the male and female can be in one area for years, without there ever being any offspring.

In December of 2015 four new roadrunners came to our park from German zoos. Together with the four birds from our own collection there are now five males and three females in Arnhem. Once the newcomers became settled behind the scenes after a while, it was time to look for a partner for them. Multiple birds could get to know one another, but still with the fence between them. Some birds seemed to be interested in each other, so these birds were put together as a pair. As roadrunners can be rather aggressive, good control is needed for this.