The roadrunner is a bird named because of its ability to run quickly. Roadrunners are in the cuckoo family. In Latin, the scientific name Geococcyx californianus actually means Californian earth-cuckoo. In Texas we have the Greater Roadrunner, one of two species or types of roadrunners found in the world. The other type, the Lesser Roadrunner, lives in Central America and Mexico. Greater Roadrunners live year-round in the southwestern part of the United States, across Texas and Oklahoma and into Mexico.