Greater roadrunner, the state bird of New Mexico

How to recognize it

The greater roadrunner is a large, slim ground cuckoo about 24 inches long, roughly the size of a crow, with a long, heavy bill, strong legs and a long tail spotted with white. Its body is streaked brown, tan and white, its back olive to dark grayish-brown, and it has a shaggy crest it can raise or lower. Males and females look alike. Its calls include clucks, dove-like coos, dog-like whines and harsh, guttural notes.

How it lives

The roadrunner runs far more than it flies. It can reach about 15 miles an hour on foot and flies only weakly, when it must. It hunts by walking quickly and then dashing forward to grab prey in its bill, and sometimes it leaps up to snatch insects or small birds in flight. Its diet is fearsome: large insects, scorpions, tarantulas, lizards, snakes, mice and small birds, plus some cactus fruit and seeds.

Pairs may mate for life. They defend a territory all year and build a stick nest low in a bush, tree or cactus. The species lives year-round in deserts and open country with scattered brush, from the Southwest and southern Plains south to central Mexico, and does best where open ground is mixed with dense, low cover.

Where to see one in New Mexico

Roadrunners live across much of New Mexico, mostly below about 7,000 feet, and they stay all year. They are often seen running along roads and trails, true to their name.

Doing well

The greater roadrunner is a species of least concern, and Audubon puts the population at about 1.4 million. Its range sometimes spreads north and east, harsh winters push it back, and it may be in long-term decline in California.

The state bird since 1949

The Legislature named the roadrunner New Mexico’s state bird on March 16, 1949, using the name “chaparral bird.” The bird has served the state in other ways too: a roadrunner cartoon named Dusty Roadrunner, created in 1967, became New Mexico’s anti-litter mascot.