I lived in Arkansas for several years, and one bird from that region that I sometimes find myself missing is the roadrunner. Luckily, where I live now, I can still watch some of its close relatives, the Yellow-billed Cuckoos. The following is a brief species account of the Greater Roadrunner.
The Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx
californianus) is a large, ground-dwelling cuckoo (Order Cuculiformes) that
occurs in North America, typically in deserts, shrubby habitats, and chaparral.
As a member of the Cuculiformes, the
roadrunner has zygodactyl feet (i.e., two toes pointing forward, and two
pointing backward), and, like many others of that group, it also has a
proportionally long tail. Its plumage is
brown and streaked, and it has a crest and bluish skin around the eyes.
Greater Roadrunners begin breeding in early spring. Egg-laying occurs mainly during April and
May, although some eggs have been found during mid-March. Two broods may be produced per season. Courtship includes the male singing a song
composed of low, cooing notes, and drooping the wings and tail during a
courtship dance. The nest is usually
placed about 3-15 feet from the ground in a low tree, thicket, or cactus clump,
although nests are occasionally also built on the ground. The nest, which is a foundation of sticks
with leaves, grasses, feathers, roots, and other materials as lining, is about
one foot in diameter and 6-8 inches high.
The clutch size is usually 3-6 eggs, which are ovate or elliptical,
about 39.2 by 30.1 millimeters in size, and are white with a chalky, yellowish
film. Eggs are laid at long intervals,
and both sexes begin incubating as soon as the first few eggs are
deposited. The incubation period lasts
approximately 18 days, and the newly-hatched chicks are altricial with black
skin and scattered white, hair-like plumes.
The young are cared for in the nest for about 2-3 ½ weeks, and adults
may continue to provide care for young for over a month after fledging
occurs.
Roadrunners consume a variety of foods, including lizards, snakes, spiders, scorpions, insects, rodents, ground birds and their eggs and young, fruit, and seeds. The diet is approximately 90 percent animal matter. Roadrunners range from the southwestern United States south to central Mexico. More specifically, the range is north to north-central California, southern Kansas, and Colorado; east to Kansas, central Oklahoma, Texas, Pueblo, and Tamaulipas; west to Jalisco and Baja California; and east to southwestern Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. They are nonmigratory, year-round residents in these areas.
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| Greater Roadrunner |
Sutton, G. M. 1940. Roadrunner. In A. C. Bent (Ed.), Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies: Orders Psittaciformes, Cuculiformes, Trogoniformes, Coraciiformes, Caprimulgiformes, and Micropodiiformes (pp. 36-50). Washington: United States Government Printing Office.
