Geococcyx californianus (MSB:Bird:49703)

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The Roadrunner is an iconic desert bird found in the American Southwest and adjacent Mexico, but its territory actually extends across the southern half of the United States west of the Mississippi River, and throughout Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. As a ground-dwelling cuckoo, it shares the unique x-shaped foot morphology of its arboreal cuckoo cousins that live in trees. With long, powerful legs, a long tail, and short rounded wings, roadrunners are highly efficient and maneuverable predators that ambush their prey mainly from the ground. They will eat anything they can swallow, including snakes, lizards, birds, small mammals, and large arthropods. Other resources: Animal Diversity Web Wikipedia Specimen: MSB:Bird:49703 (Division of Birds, Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico)