| Puerto Rican tody | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Coraciiformes |
| Family: | Todidae |
| Genus: | Todus |
| Species: | T. mexicanus |
| Binomial name | |
| Todus mexicanus Lesson, 1838 | |
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The Puerto Rican tody (Todus mexicanus) is a bird endemic to Puerto Rico. It is locally known in Spanish as "San Pedrito" ("little Saint Peter") and "medio peso" ("half-dollar bird"). [2]
Todies are the closest relative to the motmots of Central America. It is thought that the Jamaican tody (Todus todus) gave rise to the Puerto Rican tody after hurricane dispersals, but the relationship between both species has not yet been confirmed. Studies show the Todus genus probably developed before the Pleistocene. Mitochondrial gene studies point to the motmots as their closest relative, although egg white protein electrophoresis studies suggest a relationship to kingfishers. [3]
The Puerto Rican tody's specific epithet, mexicanus (Latin for "from Mexico"), is a misnomer; it is thought that the ornithologist who first described it, René Lesson, erroneously wrote the type specimen's retrieval location as Mexico.
The Puerto Rican tody makes up one of the five endemic Todus species of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola has two endemic species, while Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico each have one. [3] [4]
The Puerto Rican tody is a small, brightly colored, non-passerine forest bird. [5] [6] It is one of the smallest representative of the order Coraciiformes, with an average body length of 11 cm and weight of 5 to 6 g. [5] [6] The upperparts of the Puerto Rican tody are an emerald green color, and it has light-yellow flanks and underside tail coverts, and a white belly and chest. [6] The "San Pedrito", also known as "Medio Peso" by the local people, has a red throat and lower bill, which in itself is long and broad. It can be as long or longer than the head, and as half as long as the wing. Their legs and feet are a brownish color and the tarsus is similar in length to the bill. Both males and females have a short tail, ranging from two-thirds to three-fourths as long as the wings. [4] Males and females are not sexually dichromatic, and their only difference is their eye color; males have gray eyes whereas females' eyes are white. [6] The young have similar colored feathers as the adults, but lack the red markings, have a grayish colored belly and have shorter bills. [4] [7] The Puerto Rican tody differs from the other todies in that it is the only species without pink or yellow-green colored feathers on its flanks. [7]
The Puerto Rican tody can be found throughout the main island of Puerto Rico. It is found predominantly in forested areas, especially in high-altitude damp forests where insect concentrations are higher, as well as in dense thickets, such as the Guánica Forest located in the southern region of the island. [7] [5]
Todies have small territories. In lowland forests a tody's territory size is approximately 0.7 hectares (1.8 acres), but in higher elevations, where insect prey is less abundant, the territory size can increase up to two hectares per pair. [6] Breeding territories are centered around the nest burrow and are smaller than their home ranges which are defended by the pair year-round. [7]
When the Puerto Rican tody encounters an intruder it fluffs up and raises its crest. If disturbed, a bobbing up and down motion accompanied by vocalizations is portrayed; though both males and females are capable of this display, males tend to bob more. This bobbing display has also been seen after feeding and during nest building. Chasing intruders, wing flicking and wing rattles are also some of the other exhibited displays. The majority of these territorial defense displays is reserved for other todies, as they tend to be very tolerant of other species. [7]
The Puerto Rican tody is primarily insectivorous (85.9% of its diet). Todies eats katydids, grasshoppers, crickets, earwigs, dragonflies, flies, beetles, spiders (8.2%), and occasionally small lizards (3.5%) and frogs. [7] [6] Todies are considered voracious eaters.
Todies forage and feed using different methods, including air-feeding and leaf feeding, the latter being the most common method of foraging. [7] [6] When they leaf feed they sit quietly in high perches and scan the surface below with fast, jerky head motions, often tilting their bills upwards. [7] [6] When the tody sees an insect on a leaf, it will capture it while in a short-curved flight. [7]
When todies air-feed, they have their bills pointed upward, and they fly from the perch snatching the insect and return to a different perch. Todies feed from different surfaces; the most common is leaves and the least common is the ground. The act of perching between foraging flights lasts for an average of 9.0 seconds and reach an average of 1.0 captures per minute in rain forests and 1.7 captures per minute in dense thicket habitats. [7]
The nestling's diet is different. Adults primarily feed their nestlings with the insect families Homoptera (30%), Coleoptera (25%) and Lepidoptera (16%), but they have been found to supplement the hatchling's diet with Clusia krugiana fruit (18.4%). [8] Apart from insects and seeds, the adults also feed their nestlings frogs and lizards, although between those two, frogs are more common. [7]
The species has single broods and is monogamous. Its courtship reaches its peak between February and May and occurs in the breeding area, not far from the nesting site. The ritual consists of chasing each other while rattling the wings. Both male and females achieve a "flank" display before copulating, where they fluff out their flanks causing a spherical ball appearance. The female lifts her tail and enters into a submissive posture to facilitate copulation. During courtship their vocalization becomes agitated and accelerated. [7]
The Puerto Rican tody has an unusual nesting technique. During and eight week period, the male and female todies excavate a 25 to 35 cm long, narrow burrow with a right angle in an earth bank. They create their nest at the end of this burrow. This process usually occurs between the months of February and June, before the start of the wet season. [6] Females start laying their eggs 3 to 4 weeks after the nest has been completed. [7] The female lays 1 to 4 bright white eggs, with an average of 2.3 eggs, on consecutive nights. [7] [6] The weight of each egg is equivalent to about one quarter of the females body weight. [6] The responsibility of incubating the eggs is shared by both the male and the female for an average of 21 days, and later on other adult todies (usually previous offsprings) may assist in the development process of the chicks after the chicks have fledged. [7] [6] If nestlings are killed, as well as during incubation and brooding, the mate will bring prey items to the nest. [7]
The clutch size and breeding productivity of this species seems to be greater in shaded coffee plantations compared to species in secondary forests in the north-central area of the island. [2] Todies use half the burrows they excavate. Of all the burrows excavated in their territory, 62.5% and 33% of the nests in dense thickets and rainforest habitats are used respectively. Even though every year new burrows are excavated, 89% of them are 10 meters away from the old ones. Abandoned nests are often used by frog species like the common coqui. [7]
Puerto Rican todies are rarely seen on the ground; they usually prefer perching, unless when nesting. When todies are on the ground they hop. An unusual fact is that to enter their burrow they have a favorite perching spot on which they land before heading to their nest. [7] The Puerto Rican tody, unlike other Coraciiformes, roosts alone in trees both during the day and at nighttime. [5]
The Puerto Rican tody has been researched extensively because of its unusual body temperature, body temperature control and temperature control abilities. Puerto Rican todies exhibit lower body temperatures than other todies, and have also exhibited heterothermy over a range of temperatures. [5] Most coraciiformes have a body temperature of 40 °C, but Puerto Rican todies can maintain a body temperature of 36.7 °C. This allows them to spend 33% less energy than other Coraciiformes. [9] Puerto Rican Todies can lower their body temperatures by 14 °C.
This physiological response varies by both season and sex; only females in breeding season are capable of becoming torpid, [5] [10] although not all individuals become torpid at the same body temperature. [11] During this torpid stage, they are unresponsive, have their eyes closed and erected plumage, but are capable of taking flight soon after an increase in temperature. [5]
This tody is a common endemic species to the island of Puerto Rico. It is currently classified as Least Concern by the IUCN. [1] During the past, the Puerto Rican tody suffered from human predation as it was captured as food. [6] Currently it suffers from nest predation by introduced Indian mongooses. [7] [6] Other threats include habitat destruction and the transition of shaded coffee plantations into sun coffee plantations. [7]
The motmots or Momotidae are a family of birds in the order coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. All extant motmots are restricted to woodland or forests in the Neotropics, and the largest are in Central America. They have a colourful plumage and a relatively heavy bill. All except the tody motmot have relatively long tails that in some species have a distinctive racket-like tip.
The todies are a family, Todidae, of tiny Caribbean birds in the order Coraciiformes, which also includes the kingfishers, bee-eaters and rollers. The family has one living genus, Todus, and one genus known from the fossil record, Palaeotodus.
Todus is a genus of birds in the family Todidae, the todies, found in the Caribbean. It is the only extant genus within the family Todidae. The five species are small, near passerine birds of the forests of the Greater Antilles: Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba, with adjacent islands, have one species each, and Hispaniola has two, the broad-billed tody in the lowlands and the narrow-billed tody in the highlands.
The Puerto Rican nightjar or Puerto Rican whip-poor-will is a bird in the nightjar family found in the coastal dry scrub forests in localized areas of southwestern Puerto Rico. It was described in 1916 from bones found in a cave in north central Puerto Rico and a single skin specimen from 1888, and was considered extinct until observed in the wild in 1961. The current population is estimated as 1,400-2,000 mature birds. The species is currently classified as Endangered due to pressures from habitat loss.
The Cuban tody is a bird species in the family Todidae that is restricted to Cuba and the adjacent islands.
The Jamaican tody is a species of bird in the genus Todus endemic to Jamaica. Local names for the Jamaican tody include rasta bird, robin and robin redbreast.
Angela Kay Kepler is a New Zealand-born naturalist and author. She is a graduate of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand and has a master's degree from the University of Hawaiʻi and a doctorate from Cornell University, New York in 1972. She also undertook a one-year post doctoral position at Oxford University.
The Puerto Rican woodpecker is the only woodpecker endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and is one of the five species of the genus Melanerpes that occur in the Antilles. Furthermore, it is the only resident species of the family Picidae in Puerto Rico. The species is common on the main island of Puerto Rico and rare on the island of Vieques.
Adelaide's warbler is a bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico belonging to the genus Setophaga of the family Parulidae. The species is named after Maria Antoinette Adelaide Florentia del Carmen Swift Washburne (1829-1884), daughter of Robert Swift, the person who obtained the first specimen.
The Puerto Rican tanager is a small passerine bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. It is the only member of the genus Nesospingus and has historically been placed in the tanager family, but recent studies indicate it as either belonging in its own family Nesospingidae or as being a member of Phaenicophilidae. Its closest relatives are likely the spindalises. The Puerto Rican tanager is known to locals as llorosa, which means 'cryer'.
The yellow-shouldered blackbird, known in Puerto Rican Spanish as mariquita de Puerto Rico or capitán, is a species of blackbird endemic to Puerto Rico. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow patch on the wing. Adult males and females are of similar appearance. The species is predominantly insectivorous.
The broad-billed tody is a species of bird in the family Todidae, and one of two Todus species found on Hispaniola, along with the narrow-billed tody. They are small insectivorous birds, characterized by their bright green feathers, pink flanks and red throats.
The Puerto Rican bullfinch is a small bullfinch tanager endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. The species can be commonly found in heavy forests throughout Puerto Rico, except on the easternmost tip of the island. It consumes seeds, fruits, insects, and spiders. The nest is spherical, with an entrance on the side. Typically three light green eggs are laid.
Coquí is a common name for several species of small frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus native to Puerto Rico. They are onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui and the upland coqui, make at night. The coquí is one of the most common frogs in Puerto Rico, with more than 16 different species found within its territory, including 13 in El Yunque National Forest. Other species of this genus can be found in the rest of the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Neotropics, in Central and South America. The coquí is an unofficial national symbol of Puerto Rico; there is a Puerto Rican expression that goes, "Soy de aquí, como el coquí", which translates to "I'm from here, like the coquí."
The russet-crowned motmot is a species of motmot native to north-western Mexico and central Guatemala. It is a year-round resident of the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests and scrubland. The russet-crowned motmot is the most understudied species of motmot in the family Momotidae.
The narrow-billed tody is a species of bird in the family Todidae. It is one of two Todus species endemic to Hispaniola, a Caribbean island shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk, falcón de sierra or gavilán pecho rufo in Spanish, is an endemic subspecies of the North American sharp-shinned hawk, occurring only in Puerto Rico. Discovered in 1912 and described as a distinct sub-species, it has been placed on the United States Fish and Wildlife Service list of endangered species because of its rapidly dwindling population in Puerto Rico. It can be found in the Toro Negro State Forest.
Guilarte State Forest is one of the 20 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. The forest is located in the eastern half of the Central Mountain Range or Cordillera Central. The main geographical feature of the forest reserve is Monte Guilarte, which is Puerto Rico's 7th highest mountain at 3,950 feet above sea level. While Monte Guilarte is located in the municipality of Adjuntas, the forest's borders also include parts of Guayanilla, Peñuelas and Yauco.
Guajataca State Forest is one of the 20 forests that make up the public forest system of Puerto Rico. The Guajataca Forest is located in the northwestern part of Puerto Rico, along the Northern Karst zone in the municipality of Isabela and municipality of Quebradillas, and is near Camuy and San Sebastián. The forest is renowned for its ecological diversity, the mogotes and karstic formations, and its numerous caves and canyons. It also has the largest trail system of any Puerto Rican state forest.
Data related to Todus mexicanus at Wikispecies| Authority control databases: National |
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