Facts to Know about Roadrunners

You’ll love this factoid: The greater roadrunner’s biological designation, Geococcyx californianus, means “California earth-cuckoo”— a phrase that many of you might think describes more than just a speedy, lizard-eating bird. The roadrunner has been with us longer than California has; the oldest roadrunner fossil is more than 33,000 years old. Native to sparse forests, about 8,000 years ago, these birds began adapting to the arid environments we find them in now.



Roadrunners are notorious gutbuckets, and will eat almost anythingthey can catch, though their diets primarily consist of insects and arachnids, along with lizards, small mammals, some other birds, including chicks. In some areas, Texas, for example, roadrunners are disliked because it’s thought that they deplete quail populations before hunters can — though that concern is generally unfounded. They seem to do fine in suburban areas; the only time I’ve seen one in the last few years was crossing a street this past summer in an older part of Henderson, far from the open desert.



Perhaps because of the anthropomorphic effect of the classic Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, roadrunners appear often in novelty news segments — for instance, when one accidentally hitches a ride to Maine in a moving van. More metaphysically, some Indigenous tribes are said to have believed roadrunners warded off evil. It certainly felt like a good portent when I saw one.



Greater roadrunner
Sciency name: Geococcyx californianusSize: Typically about 20–24 inches long, with a wingspan of 17–24 inches; it usually weighs 19 ounces or less.
Can they fly: Yes, for short distances.


How fast can a roadrunner run: Approximately 20 mph.Is "running down the road" indeed its "idea of having fun": Science is unclear on this point.