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
Cuckoo-finch moved to a genus of its own, "Anomalospiza". The name of the genus means "anomalous finch" with "spiza" being a Greek word for finch. The specific name "imberbis" comes from Latin and means "beardless". Its closest relatives are thought to be the indigobirds and whydahs of the genus "Vidua". These birds are now usually considered to form a family, Viduidae. Previously they were treated as a subfamily, Viduinae, within either the estrildid finch family, Estrildidae, or the weaver family, Ploceidae. The cuckoo-finch is a small finch-like bird, about 11–13 cm long. It has a short tail, large legs and feet,