Todus | |
---|---|
Jamaican tody (Todus todus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Coraciiformes |
Family: | Todidae |
Genus: | Todus Brisson, 1760 |
Type species | |
Alcedo todus Linnaeus, 1758 | |
Species | |
See text | |
Global range (in green) |
Todus is a genus of birds found in the Caribbean. It is the only genus within the todies family Todidae. The five species are small 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 (including Gonâve Island) and the narrow-billed tody in the highlands. [1] [2]
The genus Todus was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the Jamaican tody (Todus todus) as the type species. [3] [4] Todus is a Latin word for a small bird mentioned by the Roman playwright Plautus and the grammarian Sextus Pompeius Festus. [5] This name had earlier been used for the Jamaican tody by the Irish physician Patrick Browne in his book The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica that was published in 1756. [6]
Five species are recognized: [7]
Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
Todus multicolor | Cuban tody | Cuba | |
Todus subulatus | Broad-billed tody | Hispaniola | |
Todus angustirostris | Narrow-billed tody | Haiti and the Dominican Republic. | |
Todus todus | Jamaican tody | Jamaica | |
Todus mexicanus | Puerto Rican tody | Puerto Rico |
Todies range in weight from 5 to 7 g and in length from 10 to 11.5 cm. They have colourful plumage and resemble kingfishers in their general shape. They have green heads, backs and wings, red throats (absent in immature Puerto Rican, broad-billed, and narrow-billed Todies [1] ) 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 bills (as do many flycatching birds) with serrated edges; the upper mandible is black and the lower is red with a little black. The legs, and especially the feet, are small. [2] Todies are highly vocal, except that the Jamaican tody seldom calls in the non-breeding season (August to November); [1] they give simple, unmusical buzzing notes, beeps, and guttural rattles, puffing their throats out with every call. [2] Their wings produce a "strange, whirring rattle", though mostly when courting or defending territory in the Puerto Rican tody. [1]
Todies are generally sedentary; the longest single flight known for the broad-billed tody is 40 m. [1] [2] Their activity is greatest in the morning when sunny weather follows rain, and in March and September. [1]
Like most of the Coraciiformes, todies nest in tunnels, which they dig with their beaks and feet in steep banks [2] or rotten tree trunks. [1] The tunnel is 30 cm long in the Cuban and narrow-billed Todies, 30 to 60 cm in the broad-billed tody, [1] 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 to the eggs. The young are altricial and stay in the nest until they can fly. Both parents also care for the nestlings, much more attentively; they may feed each chick up to 140 times per day, the highest rate known among birds. [2]
Todies eat small prey such as insects and lizards. Insects, particularly grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, bugs, butterflies, bees, wasps, and ants, form the greater part of the diet. Spiders and millipedes may also be taken, as is a small amount of fruit (2% of the diet). [10] Todies typically sit on a low, small branch, singly or in pairs, keeping still or stepping or hopping sideways. When they see prey moving on the lower surface of a leaf, they fly a short distance (averaging 2.2 m in the broad-billed tody and 1.0 m in the Puerto Rican tody [1] ), diagonally upward to glean it. They may also take prey from the ground, occasionally chasing it with a few hops.
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.
The great skua, sometimes known by the name bonxie in Britain, is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is roughly the size of a herring gull. It mainly eats fish caught at the sea surface or taken from other birds.
The green imperial pigeon is a large forest pigeon. The large range extends from Nepal, southern India and Sri Lanka eastwards to southern China, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The red-billed firefinch or Senegal firefinch is a small seed-eating bird in the family Estrildidae. This is a resident breeding bird in most of Sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 10,000,000 km2. It was introduced to Egypt, but the population there has become extinct. It was also introduced to southern Algeria where it is currently expanding northward.
The Puerto Rican tody, locally known in Spanish as San Pedrito, is a bird endemic to the main island of Puerto Rico. In 2022, the tody was approved as the official national bird of Puerto Rico by the legislative assembly. However, the proposal did not advance, largely due to the scientific name of the bird which erroneously identifies it as a native of Mexico. In 2023, the assembly approved a petition to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) seeking the renaming of the tody as Todus borinquensis.
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.
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 vervain hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found on Hispaniola and Jamaica.
Muscicapa is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the Old World flycatcher family Muscicapidae, and therein to the typical flycatchers of subfamily Muscicapinae. They are widespread across Europe, Africa and Asia with most species occurring in forest and woodland habitats. Several species are migratory, moving south from Europe and northern Asia for the winter.
The forest kingfisher, also known as Macleay's or the blue kingfisher, is a species of kingfisher in the subfamily Halcyoninae, also known as tree kingfishers. It is a predominantly blue and white bird. It is found in Indonesia, New Guinea and coastal eastern and Northern Australia. Like many other kingfishers, it hunts invertebrates, small frogs, and lizards.
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.
Malurus is a genus of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae.
The emperor fairywren is a species of bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is found in New Guinea in its natural habitat of subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is the largest species of fairywren. It is highly sexually dimorphic. Males have a blue and black plumage, with the females having blue and black plumage only on their heads, with the rest of the body being coloured a rusty brown and having a black tail tipped with white. There are 3 recognized subspecies of the emperor fairywren, one from north and northwestern New Guinea, one from Biak Island, and one from south New Guinea and the Aru Islands.
Myiagra is a genus of passerine birds in the family Monarchidae, the monarch flycatchers, native to Australasia, sometimes referred to as the broad-billed flycatchers or simply broadbills.
The leaden flycatcher is a species of passerine bird in the family Monarchidae. Around 15 cm (6 in) in length, the male is lustrous azure with white underparts, while the female possesses leaden head, mantle and back and rufous throat and breast. It is found in eastern and northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical mangrove forests in the northern parts of its range, in the south and inland it is eucalypt woodland.
Todirostrum is a genus of Neotropical birds in the New World flycatcher family Tyrannidae.
The loggerhead kingbird is a species of sub-oscine passerine bird belonging to the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. This species is found in wooded habitats in the islands of the northern Caribbean, with records of vagrants from Florida.
The bristlebills are a genus Bleda of passerine birds in the bulbul family Pycnonotidae. They are found in the forest understorey of western and central Africa. They forage for insects at or near ground-level, often near water. They will follow driver ant swarms to catch prey items fleeing from the ants and they frequently join mixed-species feeding flocks.
Todopsis is a former genus of fly-catching wrens. The following species were formerly classified within the genus Todopsis: