Greater roadrunner of New Mexico. Greater roadrunner The greater roadrunner ("Geococcyx californianus") is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from Southwestern United States and Mexico. The Latin name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along with the lesser roadrunner, it is one of two species in the roadrunner genus "Geococcyx". This roadrunner is also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. The roadrunner is about long, has a wingspan and weighs . It stands around tall and is the largest cuckoo of the Americas. Roadrunners have four toes on each zygodactyl foot; two face forward, and two face backward. The
Thick-billed cuckoo helmetshrike, the thick-billed cuckoo has caused probably the most dramatic reduction in nesting success by any brood parasitic bird, with one group of helmetshrikes unable to rear any of their own nestlings for five years and ten breeding attempts, with overall between 35 and 55 percent of nests parasitised. It is almost certain that the extinct Malagasy subspecies parasitised vangas, which are related to the helmetshrikes. This species’ parasitism of the helmetshrikes may complement the similarly sized black cuckoo which exclusively parasitises bush shrikes. Thick-billed cuckoo The thick-billed cuckoo ("Pachycoccyx audeberti") is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.