The
todies are a
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
,
Todidae, of
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s in the order
CoraciiformesThe Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...
, which also includes the
kingfisherKingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
s,
bee-eaterThe bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers...
s and
rollerThe rollers are an Old World family, Coraciidae, of near passerine birds related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. The group gets its name from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights....
s. The family has one
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
,
Todus. These are small
near passerineNear passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod . All near passerines are land birds...
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of forests of the
Greater AntillesThe Greater Antilles is one of four island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico--the fourth largest island of the Antilles and the only U.S...
:
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, and
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
with adjacent islands have one species each, and
HispaniolaHispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is located between the islands of Cuba to the west, and Puerto Rico to the east, directly within the hurricane belt...
has two, the
Broad-billed TodyThe Broad-billed Tody, Todus subulatus, is one of the two species of tody native to the island of Hispaniola. It can be identified by its small size, stubby beak, ruby-red throat, and green back....
in the lowlands (including
Gonâve IslandGonâve Island is an island of Haiti located to the west-northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonâve. It is the largest of the Hispaniolan satellite islands, situated off the mainland. The island is an arrondissement in the Ouest Department and includes the communes of Anse-à-Galets and...
) and the
Narrow-billed TodyThe Narrow-billed Tody is a species of bird in the Todidae family.It is found in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and heavily degraded former forest....
in the highlands.
Todies range in weight from 5 to 7 g and in length from 10 to 11.5 cm (4 to 4.5 inches).
The
todies are a
familyIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
,
Todidae, of
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s in the order
CoraciiformesThe Coraciiformes are a group of usually colourful near passerine birds including the kingfishers, the Hoopoe, the bee-eaters, the rollers, and the hornbills...
, which also includes the
kingfisherKingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
s,
bee-eaterThe bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers...
s and
rollerThe rollers are an Old World family, Coraciidae, of near passerine birds related to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. The group gets its name from the aerial acrobatics some of these birds perform during courtship or territorial flights....
s. The family has one
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
,
Todus. These are small
near passerineNear passerine or higher land-bird assemblage are terms often given to arboreal birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines due to ecological similarities; the group corresponds to some extent with the Anomalogonatae of Garrod . All near passerines are land birds...
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
of forests of the
Greater AntillesThe Greater Antilles is one of four island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico--the fourth largest island of the Antilles and the only U.S...
:
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
,
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, and
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
with adjacent islands have one species each, and
HispaniolaHispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, comprising Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is located between the islands of Cuba to the west, and Puerto Rico to the east, directly within the hurricane belt...
has two, the
Broad-billed TodyThe Broad-billed Tody, Todus subulatus, is one of the two species of tody native to the island of Hispaniola. It can be identified by its small size, stubby beak, ruby-red throat, and green back....
in the lowlands (including
Gonâve IslandGonâve Island is an island of Haiti located to the west-northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonâve. It is the largest of the Hispaniolan satellite islands, situated off the mainland. The island is an arrondissement in the Ouest Department and includes the communes of Anse-à-Galets and...
) and the
Narrow-billed TodyThe Narrow-billed Tody is a species of bird in the Todidae family.It is found in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and heavily degraded former forest....
in the highlands.
Description
Todies range in weight from 5 to 7 g and in length from 10 to 11.5 cm (4 to 4.5 inches). They have colourful
plumagePlumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...
and resemble kingfishers, with green heads, backs and wings, red throats (absent in immature Puerto Rican, Broad-billed, and Narrow-billed Todies) with a white and blue-grey stripe on each side, and yellow undertail coverts; the colour of the rest of the undersides is pale and varies according to species. The irises are pale grey. They have long, flattened
billsThe beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
(as do many flycatching birds) with serrated edges; the upper mandible is black, the lower red with a little black. The legs and especially feet are small. Todies are highly vocal, except that the Jamaican Tody seldom calls in the non-breeding season (August to November); they give simple, unmusical buzzing notes, beeps, and guttural rattles, puffing their throats out with every call. Their wings produce a "strange, whirring rattle", though mostly when courting or defending territory in the Puerto Rican Tody.
thumb
They eat small prey such as insects and lizards. Insects form the greater part of the diet, particularly grasshoppers and crickets, beetles, bugs, butterflies, bees, wasps and ants. Spiders and millipedes may also be taken, as is a small amount of fruit (2% of the diet). Todies typically sit on a low small twig, singly or in pairs, keeping still or possibly stepping sideways like
parrotParrots, also known as psittacines , are birds of the roughly 372 species in 86 genera that make up the order Psittaciformes, found in most warm and tropical regions. The order is subdivded in three families: the Psittacidae , the Cacatuidae and the Nestoridae...
s or hopping sideways. When they see prey moving on the lower surface of a leaf, they fly a short distance (averaging 2.2 metres or 7 feet in the Broad-billed Tody, 1 metre or 3 feet in the
Puerto Rican TodyThe Puerto Rican Tody is a tody endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Despite is scientific name, Todus mexicanus, it is endemic to Puerto Rico...
) diagonally upward to
gleanGleaning, or gleaning insects, is a common feeding strategy for some groups of birds, including most flycatchers. This behaviour can be contrasted with hawking...
it. They may also take prey from the ground, occasionally chasing it with a few hops. At all times they are sedentary; the longest single flight known for the Broad-billed Tody is 40 metres (130 feet). Their activity is greatest in the morning when sunny weather follows rain, and in March and September.
Like most of the Coraciiformes, todies nest in tunnels, which they dig with their beaks and feet in steep banks or rotten tree trunks. The tunnel is 30 cm long in the Cuban and Narrow-billed Todies, 30 to 60 cm in the Broad-billed and ends in a nest chamber, generally not reused. They lay about four round white eggs in the chamber. Both parents incubate but are surprisingly inattentive. The young are
altricialAltricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
and stay in the nest till they can fly. Both parents also care for the nestlings, now much more attentively—indeed they may feed each chick up to 140 times per day, the highest rate known among birds.
Fossil species
A prehistoric genus,
Palaeotodus, is known from
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
s. The prehistoric species, dated to the early
OligoceneThe Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
, was discovered in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and has also been found in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, suggesting the family was once far more widespread than it is today.
Species list
- Cuban Tody
The Cuban Tody is a species of bird in the tody family, Todidae. Of all of the todies, they seem to be the most colorful. Cuban Todys can only fly short distances, as they have rounded wings. Some scientists think that the Cuban Tody's ancestors may have flown over from the mainland long ago when...
, Todus multicolor
- Broad-billed Tody
The Broad-billed Tody, Todus subulatus, is one of the two species of tody native to the island of Hispaniola. It can be identified by its small size, stubby beak, ruby-red throat, and green back....
, Todus subulatus
- Narrow-billed Tody
The Narrow-billed Tody is a species of bird in the Todidae family.It is found in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montanes and heavily degraded former forest....
, Todus angustirostris
- Jamaican Tody
Found only in Jamaica, the Jamaican Tody is a small and colourful bird, predominantly green above, with a red throat and yellow underparts, with some pink on the sides. It has a large head and a long, flat bill. It perches on small branches, with its bills unturned and, like its Cuban relative ,...
, Todus todus
- Puerto Rican Tody
The Puerto Rican Tody is a tody endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Despite is scientific name, Todus mexicanus, it is endemic to Puerto Rico...
, Todus mexicanus
External links