Land Birds: Miscellaneous Larger Birds

Parrots, Anis, Cuckoos, Trogons, Roadrunner

There are no longer any native parrots in North America but 27 imported species are seen regularly. Three cuckoo and 2 ani species occur. Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos raise their own young but sometimes lay eggs in the nests of other species (interspecific brood parasite) or in the nests of their own species (infraspecific brood parasite).

Paisano, Chaparral Cock, Snake Killer, and Medicine Bird are some of the many colorful names bestowed on the Greater Roadrunner, a conspicuous but enigmatic terrestrial cuckoo of the American Southwest. An opportunistic predator, it feeds on snakes, lizards, spiders, scorpions, insects, birds, rodents, and bats, which it beats repeatedly against a hard substrate before consuming. During severe food shortages, it may eat its own young.