roadrunner

The subfamily Neomorphinae, the New World ground cuckoos, includes 11 species of birds,{{cite web |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Neomorphinae.html |first1=P. R. |last1=Myers |first2= C. S. | last2 = Parr | first3 = T. | last3 = Jones | first4 = G. S. | last4 = Hammond |first5 = T. A. | last5 = Dewey |title=Neomorphinae (New World ground cuckoos) |work=Animal Diversity Web |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=2009-08-12}} while the genus Geococcyx has just two:{{cite web|last=Avian Web|title=Roadrunners|url=http://www.beautyofbirds.com/roadrunners.html|access-date=3 May 2012}}

{{Species table |genus= Geococcyx |authority-name=Wagler|authority-year=1831 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=70}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Greater roadrunner|binomial=Geococcyx californianus

|image=File:The Greater Roadrunner Walking.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Lesson |authority-year=1829 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Mexico and the southwestern and south-central United States{{cite web|work=Avian Web|title=Greater Roadrunners|url=http://www.beautyofbirds.com/greaterroadrunners.html|access-date=3 May 2012}}

|range-image=File:Geococcyx californianus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Lesser roadrunner |binomial=Geococcyx velox

|image=File:Lesser Roadrunner - Mexico S4E1497.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Wagner |authority-year=1836 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= Mexico and Central America{{cite web|work=Avian Web|title=Lesser Roadrunners|url=http://www.beautyofbirds.com/lesserroadrunners.html|access-date=3 May 2012}}

|range-image=File:Geococcyx Velox Map Small.png

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

File:Greater Roadrunner Collage.jpg

The roadrunner generally ranges in size from {{convert|22|to|24|in|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} from tail to beak. The average weight is about {{convert|8|–|15|oz|g|abbr=on|order=flip}}.{{cite web|publisher=The Animal Spot|work=Desert Animals|title= Roadrunner|url=http://www.desertanimals.net/desertanimals/roadrunner.html|access-date=3 May 2012}} The roadrunner is a slender, black-brown and white-streaked ground bird with a distinctive head crest. It has long legs, strong feet, and an oversized dark bill. The tail is broad with white tips on the three outer tail feathers. The bird has a bare patch of skin behind each eye; this patch is shaded blue anterior to red posterior. The lesser roadrunner is slightly smaller, not as streaky, and has a smaller bill. Both the lesser roadrunner and the greater roadrunner leave behind very distinct "X" track marks appearing as if they are travelling in both directions.{{cite book | last1=Elbroch | first1=M. | last2=Marks | first2=E. | last3=Boretos | first3=D.C. | title=Bird Tracks & Sign: A Guide to North American Species | publisher=Stackpole Books | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-8117-4253-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8by3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PR7 | access-date=2019-09-04 | page=160}}

Roadrunners and other members of the cuckoo family have zygodactyl feet. The roadrunner can run at speeds of up to {{convert|20|mph|km/h|order=flip|abbr=on}}{{cite book |last=Lockwood |first=Mark |title=Basic Texas birds: a field guide |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Austin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJIyfDPk9scC&pg=PA168|pages=168–169 |isbn=978-0-292-71349-9 |date=January 2010 }} and generally prefer sprinting to flying, though it will fly to escape predators.{{cite web | title=Greater Roadrunner Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology | website=Online bird guide, bird ID help, life history, bird sounds from Cornell | url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/lifehistory | ref={{sfnref | Online bird guide, bird ID help, life history, bird sounds from Cornell}} | access-date=2019-09-02}} During flight, the short, rounded wings reveal a white crescent in the primary feathers.

File:Roadrunner Clatter.ogg

The roadrunner has a slow and descending dove-like "coo". It also makes a rapid, vocalized clattering sound with its beak.{{cite web|title=Bird Sounds|url=https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/sounds}}

Roadrunners inhabit the Southwestern United States, to parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as well as Mexico and Central America. They live in arid lowland or mountainous shrubland or woodland. They are non-migratory, staying in their breeding area year-round.{{cite web|work=Avian Web|title=Roadrunners|url=http://www.beautyofbirds.com/roadrunners.html|access-date=3 May 2012}} The greater roadrunner is not currently considered threatened in the US, but is habitat-limited.{{cite web| url = http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/greater_roadrunner.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20041105000133/http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/species/scrub/greater_roadrunner.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = 5 November 2004| title = Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus)| last1 = Famolaro| first1 = Pete| website = California Partners in Flight Coastal Scrub and Chaparral Bird Conservation Plan| publisher = Point Blue| access-date = 21 Aug 2015| quote = No federal or state [management] status. No other special status. Unitt (1984) indicates that roadrunners are habitat limited and have experienced a reduction in numbers due to urbanization.}}

File:Roadrunnerusarmy31.jpg with a lizard]]

The roadrunner is an opportunistic omnivore. Its diet normally consists of insects (such as grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, and beetles), small reptiles (such as lizards and snakes, including rattlesnakes),

{{

cite web|

title=roadrunner vs rattlesnake| website=YouTube | date=20 March 2014 |

url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LE78eJx5hg

|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/3LE78eJx5hg |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}

rodents and other small mammals, spiders (including tarantulas), scorpions, centipedes, snails, small birds (and nestlings), eggs, and fruits and seeds like those from prickly pear cactuses and sumacs. The lesser roadrunner eats mainly insects. The roadrunner forages on the ground and, when hunting, usually runs after prey from under cover. It may leap to catch insects, and commonly batters certain prey against the ground. The roadrunner is one of the few animals that preys upon rattlesnakes;{{cite web|work=Desert USA|title=The Roadrunner|url=http://www.desertusa.com/road.html|access-date=3 May 2012}} it is also the only real predator of tarantula hawk wasps.

File:Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) 2.jpg

The roadrunner usually lives alone or in pairs. Breeding pairs are monogamous and mate for life,"With the exception of breeding pairs, roadrunners are solitary (Hughes 1996). Pairs mate for life (Terres 1980)." and pairs may hold a territory all year. During the courtship display, the male bows, alternately lifting and dropping his wings and spreading his tail. He parades in front of the female with his head high and his tail and wings drooped, and may bring an offering of food. The reproductive season is spring to mid-summer (depending on geographic location and species).

The roadrunner's nest is often composed of sticks, and may sometimes contain leaves, feathers, snakeskins, or dung.{{cite web|url=http://www.nature.org/newsfeatures/specialfeatures/animals/birds/roadrunner.xml |title=Information on the Roadrunner | The Nature Conservancy |publisher=Nature.org |date=2016-07-15 |access-date=2016-09-14}} It is commonly placed {{convert|1|to|3|m|ft|0|sp=us|abbr=off}} above ground level"Usually 1-3 meters above ground; infrequently higher than 3 meters (Hughes 1996)." in a low tree, bush, or cactus. Roadrunner eggs are generally white. The greater roadrunner generally lays 2–6 eggs per clutch, but the lesser roadrunner's clutches are typically smaller. Hatching is asynchronous. Both sexes incubate the nest (with males incubating the nest at night) and feed the hatchlings. For the first one to two weeks after the young hatch, one parent remains at the nest. The young leave the nest at two to three weeks old, foraging with parents for a few days after.

File:Greater Roadrunner sunning.ogv

During the cold desert night, the roadrunner lowers its body temperature slightly, going into a slight torpor to conserve energy. To warm itself during the day, the roadrunner exposes dark patches of skin on its back to the sun.

The Hopi and other Pueblo tribes believed roadrunners were medicine birds, capable of warding off evil spirits. The X-shaped footprints of roadrunners were seen as sacred symbols, believed to confuse evil spirits by concealing the bird's direction of travel. Stylized roadrunner tracks have been found in the rock art of ancestral Southwestern tribes like the Mogollon cultures. Roadrunner feathers were used to decorate Pueblo cradleboards for spiritual protection. Among Mexican Indian and American Indian tribes, such as the Pima, seeing a roadrunner is considered good luck. While some Mexican tribes revered the roadrunner and never killed it, most used its meat as a folk remedy for illness or to boost stamina and strength.{{Cite web|url=http://www.native-languages.org/legends-roadrunner.htm|title=Native American Indian Roadrunner Legends, Meaning and Symbolism from the Myths of Many Tribes|website=www.native-languages.org|access-date=2017-06-26}}

Central American Indigenous peoples have various beliefs about the roadrunner. The Ch’orti’, known to call it t’unk’u’x or mu’, have taboos against harming the bird.{{cite journal |last1=Hull |first1= Kerry|last2=Fergus |first2=Rob |date=1 December 2017 |title=Birds as Seers: an Ethno-Ornithological Approach to Omens and Prognostication Among the Ch'Orti' Maya of Guatemala|journal=Journal of Ethnobiology|volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=617 |doi= 10.2993/0278-0771-37.4.604|s2cid= 89743087}} The Ch'ol Maya believe roadrunners possess special powers, calling it ajkumtz’u’ due to its call, which is believed to induce tiredness in listeners.{{cite journal | last=Hull | first=Kerry | title=Ethno-ornithological Perspectives on the Ch'ol Maya | journal=Reitaku Review |volume=17 |pages=42–92 | date=2015-08-03 | url=https://www.academia.edu/2039186 | access-date=2019-09-02 }}

The word for roadrunner in the O'odham language is {{lang|ood|taḏai}}, which is the name of a transit center in Tucson, Arizona.{{Cite web|url=http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~mathiotm/Mathiot/Volume%20I.pdf|title=TOHONO 'O'ODHAM-ENGLISH DICTIONARY|website=University at Buffalo}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.transit.wiki/Tohono_Tadai_Transit_Center|title=Tohono Tadai Transit Center - Transit.Wiki|website=www.transit.wiki|date=29 June 2012 |language=en|access-date=2017-06-26}} In the O'odham tradition, the roadrunner is also credited with bringing fire to the people.

The roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico.{{Cite web |title=State Bird {{!}} Maggie Toulouse Oliver - New Mexico Secretary of State |url=https://www.sos.nm.gov/about-new-mexico/state-bird/ |access-date=2023-08-28 |language=en-US}} The roadrunner was made popular by the Warner Bros. cartoon characters Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, created in 1949, and the subject of a long-running series of theatrical cartoon shorts. In each episode, the cunning, insidious, and constantly hungry Wile E. Coyote repeatedly attempts to catch and subsequently eat the Road Runner, but is never successful. The cartoons led to a misconception that the call of the roadrunner is "meep, meep" because the roadrunner in this cartoon series made that sound instead of the aforementioned sound of a real roadrunner. In some shorts, the Road Runner makes a noise while sticking his tongue out at Wile E. Coyote, which resembles its actual call. The cartoons rely on a misconception that a roadrunner is much faster than a coyote. In fact, a coyote's fastest sprinting speed is {{convert|40|mph|km/h|order=flip|abbr=on}},{{cite web| last = U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service| title = The Coyote| work = Big Bend National Park| access-date = 9 June 2022| url = https://home.nps.gov/bibe/learn/nature/coyote.htm}} which is twice that of a roadrunner's at {{convert|20|mph|km/h|order=flip|abbr=on}}.

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|last=Alsop|first=Fred J. III|title=Birds of North America|year=2002|publisher=DK|location=New York|isbn=0-7894-8001-8|edition=1st American}}
• {{cite book|editor-first=Josep|editor-last=del Hoyo|editor2-first=Luis|editor2-last=Baptista|title=Sandgrouse to cuckoos|year=1997|publisher=Lynx Ed.|location=Barcelona|isbn=84-87334-22-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/handbookofbirdso0001unse}}
• {{cite journal|last=Harrison|first=George|year=2005|title=Comical Cuckoo|journal=Birder's World|volume=19|pages=56–58}}
• {{cite book|editor-first=Michael|editor-last=Hutchins|title=Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=Gale|location=Detroit|isbn=0-7876-5785-9|edition=2nd}}
• {{cite journal|last=Meinzer|first=Wyman|year=1993|title=Beep! Beep! Better pull over, folks – it's the roadrunner|journal=Smithsonian|volume=23|page=58}}
• {{cite book|editor-last=Perrins|editor-first=Christopher M.|title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Birds: The Definitive Reference to Birds of The World|year=1990|publisher=Prentice Hall Editions|location=New York|isbn=0-13-083635-4|edition=1st Prentice Hall Press|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/illustratedencyc0000unse_t1c2}}
• {{cite book|author=National Geographic Society|title=Field Guide to the Birds of North America|date=2002|publisher=National Geographic|location=Washington D.C.|isbn=0792268776|page=244|edition=4th}}
• {{cite book|last1=Wetmore|first1=Alexander|last2=Kellog|first2=Peter Paul|title=Water, Prey, and Game Birds of North America|date=1965|publisher=National Geographic Society|location=Washington D.C.}}

• {{cite magazine|title=The Roadrunner: Clown of the Desert|magazine=National Geographic|first=Martha A.|last=Whitson|pages=694–702|volume=163|issue=5|date=May 1983|issn=0027-9358|oclc=643483454}}

{{Commons category|Geococcyx}}

{{Wiktionary}}

• [https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/maps-range# Distribution map of the Greater Roadrunner]
• [http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Roadrunner/sounds Greater Roadrunner sounds]
• [https://www.naturefootage.com/stock-video-footage?fs=Roadrunner Video clips of roadrunners in action]
• [https://www.sos.nm.gov/about-new-mexico/state-bird/]

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Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Birds of Mexico