Greater Roadrunner
|
? Greater
Roadrunner |
|||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Geococcyx
californianus ( Lesson, 1829) |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) is a large, long-legged member of the Cuckoo family, Cuculidae.
Adults have a bushy crest and long thick dark bills. They have a long dark tail, a dark head and back, and are pale on the front of the neck and on the belly. Although capable of flight, they spend most of their time on the ground. They can run at speeds of 15 miles per hour or more. They nest on a platform of sticks in a cactus or bush.
These birds walk rapidly about, running down prey or occasionally jumping up to catch insects or birds. They mainly eat insects, reptiles, rodents, tarantulas, scorpions and small birds. Their breeding habitat is desert and shrubby country in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico.
This bird was the model for the Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. However, unlike the cartoon, the song of this bird is a dove-like coo.
The University of Texas at San Antonio mascot is Rowdy a roadrunner.