I spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon admiring yellow, pink, peach and red cactus blooms at the Desert Botanical Garden. Walking out I noticed a crowd looking up at something moving in a blooming palo verde tree. A road runner was flitting about in the branches. What a treat to see this rare bird in plain sight in the middle of the day! A mourning dove was sitting on a nest in the same tree. Everyone was happily watching.
The road runner rushed the sitting dove – the dove rose from the nest and flashed her wings. In that instant the road runner reached into the nest grabbing a fledgling baby dove in its beak. The road runner sailed down to the ground and ran. The entire crowed gasped in surprise! So fast delight changed to dismay.