Greater Roadrunner - New Mexico

New Mexico is the traditional homeland of the Navajo and Pueblo people. The Zia, a branch of the Pueblo community, migrated to New Mexico during the 13th century. They built cisterns to collect water and used a variety of innovative farming techniques to sustain themselves in a desert environment with limited rainfall.

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Geococcyx californianus - The greater roadrunner is found in the southwestern regions of the United States and throughout Mexico. It is a member of the Cuculidae family, the cuckoos, and has the fastest ground speed of any flighted birds; it can run at speeds reaching 32 km/h. They use their speed to run down potential meals. Roadrunners are able to fly short distances, but flying is reserved for escaping from dangerous situations such as approaching coyotes; roadrunners, despite popular beliefs, cannot outrun coyotes.

Jacobin Cuckoo - Schutzgebiet Togo

With the signing of an agreement between Germany and King Mlapa III in 1884, Germany gained and rapidly extended its control over Togo. An intensive infrastructure was built consisting of over 1,200 kilometers of rail and an efficient port facility at Lomé to deliver the colony’s cocoa, coffee, and cotton to world markets.

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Clamator jacobinus - Jacobin cuckoos are year round residents in Central Africa and Southern India while those in Northern India winter in dry and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. It is mostly arboreal, hopping or fluttering between trees and shrubs searching for hairy caterpillars, its preferred food. The body length is 34 centimeters and it weighs 66 to 72 grams; the permanent flocks of Africa are heavier than those residing in India. Like the common cuckoo, the Jacobin is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds.

Common Cuckoo - Switzerland

The Swiss constitution contains a provision allowing for direct democracy as opposed to representative democracy. This grants Swiss citizens the right to initiate or change existing laws directly. Switzerland is the only country featuring this form of government, a type of government known as a pure democracy.

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Cuculus Canorus - Brood parasites are found among insects, fish, and birds; the common cuckoo is one of the best documented. The cuckoo hen will invade another bird’s nest, push out an existing egg, and deposit one of her own eggs into the clutch to maintain the same count as a means of fooling the true nest owner when they return. Once the cuckoo chick hatches, it will push out the other chicks to gain sole ownership of the food supply from unsuspecting parents; the foster parents, unwittingly, adopt the invader as their own.