These two images of the extant roadrunner
(Fig. 1; genus: Geococcyx) were so close to each other, they presented a great opportunity to match skull to surface features on one of our favorite birds.
Figure 1. GIF animation of Geococcyx skull matched to surface feathers. Distinct from other birds tested so far, the nares is far forward, apart from the antorbital fenestra.
A minimum of guesswork
and/or imagination was used in the creation of this image. Since the skull is a cast, sutures were ‘sutured’ to create a single object.
Geococcyx californum
(Wagler 1831; up to 60 cm longl) the extant roadrunner is a small terrestrial heron and a basal neognath with a posteriorly rotated pedal digit 4, unrelated to parrots and toucans with a similar toe. Traditionally roadrunners are considrered part of the cuckoo family. When cuckoos get tested, they may also nest here. They have shorter hind legs.
Figure 2. Geococcyx the roadrunner skeleton. Note the crane-like proportions of this small land heron, probably a late-surviving Early Cretaceous member of the Euornithes.
And where does the roadrunner nest
in the large reptile tree (LRT 1087 taxa)? Between toothy Yanornis and toothless Ardea, the heron, all three at the base of the neognath birds, not surprisingly close to Sagittarius and Cariama, two other extant bird terrestrial predators with long hind limbs.
References
Wagner JG 1831. Einige Mitheilungen über Thiere Mexicos. Oken’s Isis 24:510–535.
The Pterosaur Heresies 
Road runners are not Herons.
Remember when people said, ‘birds are dinosaurs”? Or, ‘humans are primates”? Same thing is going on here. No other taxon is presently closer to herons than roadrunners given the present taxon list.
Which doesn’t make roadrunner a heron.
Paradigms are hard to break. That’s okay. Give it a little time.
No, really – roadrunners aren’t herons.
See tomorrow’s post: https://pterosaurheresies.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/african-hamerkop-antarctic-petrel-and-american-vulture/