The Real Roadrunner and Coyote - See Pinned Comment.

Me.

Given the structure of the "Road Runner" birds feet, being thin, with long thin toes, I have seen videos of them running along dry dusty roads, and they raise HUGE dust clouds - AND I associate this much dust from an off road motorcycle, not a small bird with twig like feet. Is this true, that these birds can raise loads of dust when running?


Kimi Chat.

Yes—greater road-runners really can kick up a surprisingly large dust plume, even though each toe is only a few millimetres wide. What matters is speed, stride length, and the substrate, not foot diameter.

Sprint speed: 32–40 km h⁻¹ (20–25 mph) in 2–3 m strides

Loose, dry desert silt or powder: 0.1–0.3 mm grains, easily entrained

High-speed video shows the toes “paddle” backward at lift-off, flicking a sheet of particles upward; the wake of each stride creates a tiny vortex that keeps the dust airborne

Combined with a tail that acts like a drag rudder, the bird leaves a visible rooster-tail similar to a light motorcycle on a dirt road, even though its body mass is only 250–350 g


So the footage isn’t faked: a road-runner on powdery desert soil can generate a dust trail that looks motorcycle-scale from ground level, even though the foot itself is twig-thin.


( This explains the "Road Runner" cartoons - where the bird is throwing up a huge cloud of dust - because it's role modelled on the real thing )

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pI8NmOy....qqhM/maxresdefault.j