Hear a story about the greater roadrunner.
Hear a roadrunner.

from The Birds of Texas
by John L. Tveten

Most Texans need no introduction to the roadrunner. It occurs throughout the Southwest, from Kansas to California, and southward to central Mexico. It resides year-round in most sections of Texas, but less commonly in the eastern portions of the state.

This slender, long-legged ground cuckoo can be seen dashing across the desert or plains and may even be encountered in the East Texas piney woods. Capable of sprinting up to 15 miles an hour, it flies only under duress. When alarmed or curious, it slowly raises its shaggy crest and long, white-edged tail, uttering a strangely dovelike series of coo's, or clattering its beak.

The roadrunner eats almost anything that moves--insects, spiders, scorpions, lizards, rodents and small birds. It is also famous as a snake killer. Legend has the roadrunner building a fence of cactus pieces around a snake so that it cannot escape, and while that technique is fictional, the bird's quick agility lets it capture even highly venomous prey. Darting in to stab a snake's head, it then grabs the squirming reptile in its powerful beak and thrashes it on the ground. About 90 percent of its food is animal matter, while fruit and seeds make up the other 10 percent.

The great roadrunner is so named to distinguish it from a similar species, the lesser roadrunner, that occurs in portions of Mexico and Central America. Other regional names include "paisano" and "chaparral cock."

Excerpts from The Birds of Texas by John L. Tveten with permission from Shearer Publishing, Inc.

More on the Greater Roadrunner
from Reader's Digest "Exploring the Secrets of Nature"

The roadrunner lives in dry, scrubby deserts of the southwest USA, where the days are hot but the nights are very cold. To conserve body heat at night, the bird slows down its bodily functions, lowers it temperature and becomes lethargic. But when dawn breaks it must warm up quickly and get on the move again. To do this, it has a built-in heat exchanger, a patch of dark skin on the back between its wings that helps to absorb the warmth of the weak morning sun. The bird roughs up its feathers to expose the patch, and then waits for its body to reach normal temperature."

More Bird Facts The greater roadrunner is a ground dwelling bird and is a member of the cuckoo family. It is the only roadrunner species that inhabits the United States. The roadrunner has brown feathers streaked with white, a bushy crest, a long bill and a very long tail. Its wings are short and rounded. Roadrunners have two toes that point forward and two that point back. The roadrunner makes its nest out of sticks and lines it with grasses and leaves. The nest is hidden in a cactus, shrubby bush or low tree. The female roadrunner lays 3 to 6 white eggs, which hatch into chicks in 20 days.

Hear Interviews with Experts What's for dinner? Visit this website for Scientific Names for Roadrunners and Related Species Color a Roadrunner