Greater Roadrunner

Overview

Greater Roadrunner: Large, ground-dwelling cuckoo with overall brown, white and buff streaked appearance. Head has a shaggy crest. Face has blue and orange bare patch of skin behind eyes. Tail is long. Eats insects, lizards, snakes, rodents, small birds and fruits and seeds. Can run up to 15 mph.

Range and Habitat

Greater Roadrunner: Resident in southwest U.S. and Mexico; found in open, arid country with scattered thickets.

INTERESTING FACTS

Roadrunners can fly, but they usually don’t. Instead, they run at speeds up to 15 mph.
It is the state bird of New Mexico. It was adopted in 1949 under the name of “Chapparal Bird.”
To warm up without spending a lot of energy, roadrunners erect their feathers to expose the underlying black skin to the sun’s rays.
A group of roadrunners are collectively known as a "marathon" and a "race" of roadrunners.

The Greater Roadrunner is a long-legged member of the cuckoo family found throughout the southern United States and northern Mexico. This species is the state bird of New Mexico, and can be seen in its breeding habitat in deserts and shrublands. The Greater Roadrunner is found in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, and sometimes Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana. This species spends most of its time on the ground, and nests on platforms of sticks in low bushes or in a cactus. Its diet consists of insects, reptiles, rodents, tarantulas, scorpions and small birds. The conservation rating of the Greater Roadrunner is Least Concern.