Jamaican tody

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Jamaican tody
Todus todus cropped.jpg
Photo of Jamaican tody (Todus todus) taken by Dominic Sherony
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Todidae
Genus: Todus
Species:
T. todus
Binomial name
Todus todus
LocationJamaica.png
Green color shows range of species Todus todus - only found in Jamaica
Synonyms
  • Alcedo todusLinnaeus, 1758
  • Todus viridisLinnaeus, 1766

The Jamaican tody (Todus todus) is a species of bird in the genus Todus endemic to Jamaica. [2] Local names for the Jamaican tody include rasta bird, robin and robin redbreast.

Contents

Taxonomy

It was thought that the genus Todus was established in 1760, after the split from the kingfisher from the genus Alcedo . [3] However, the exact historical relationship between the genus Todus and other close relatives was not confirmed until around 2004 when a paper was published on the molecular phylogenic relationships for the tody species. [4] Mitochondrial DNA and nuclear gene sequences were used to discover the heterogeneity among genes in these species. [4] Genus Todus is monophyletic and a relatively old group based on divergence approximations. [4] Todies are closer to the Baryphthengus and Hylomanes genera, from the family Momotidae, than the Ceryle and Chloroceryle genera, from the family Alcedinidae. [4] The family Todidae likely derived from a motmot-like ancestor during the Oligocene period. [2] Palaeotodus emryi is the only tody that is known to be from the late Pleistocene, and it is a close relative of the tody motmot (Hylomanes momotula), the primitive genus of the Momotidae and possibly the closest living relative to the todies. [2] [3] It is believed that the Todidae were once widespread across North America but when there was a decrease in tropical conditions there, it is thought that this led to the confinement of the motmot-tody group to the Neotropics. [2]

The Jamaican tody is a member of the genus, Todus , which is composed of five species restricted to the Greater Antilles. All five species are very similar morphologically. [2] The Cuban tody (Todus multicolor) is confined to the island of Cuba and can be found throughout the island, but tends to be more concentrated in shoreline habitats. [2] The narrow-billed tody (Todus angustirostris) and the broad-billed tody (Todus subulatus) are both endemic to Hispaniola, composed of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. [2] The narrow-billed tody is mainly found in very humid montane forest while the broad-billed tody generally inhabits very dry forest and sub-desert areas. [2] However, both of these species can be found in either habitat and are most equally distributed in dry, lower montane forests. [2] The Puerto Rican tody (Todus mexicanus) is only found on the island of Puerto Rico. [2] Similar to other tody species, they can be found in a variety of habitats ranging from the moist, Luquillo Rainforest to the more dry, limestone forest. [2]

Description

The Jamaican tody is a small, chunky bird that averages about 9 cm (or 4.25”) in size. [5] [6] The wing size for all tody species ranges between 42.8mm and 50.3mm. [2] The Jamaican tody's wing size is intermediate between these sizes (about 46mm) compared to the Cuban and Puerto Rican todies, which tend to have smaller wings, and the broad-billed tody, which has the largest. [2] The wing size of the Jamaican tody correlates with their average flight distance, which is about 1.5m, and their maximum flight distance, which is 26m. [2] The average weight of the Jamaican tody is around 6.4 grams. [2] They have a bright green head, red throat and a long, broad and flat red bill. [2] [5] They look very similar to the Puerto Rican tody (Todus mexicanus) but have a whitish breast that is blended with green, becoming even slightly yellow on the abdomen and under the tail-coverts. [6] [7] The Jamaican tody also has blue-gray subauricular feathers. [2] Their legs and feet are reddish brown. [7] Todies are generally a sexually monomorphic genus. [2] [7] However, some tody species have different eye colors between males and females, but in the Jamaican tody, this iris color is undistinguishable. [2] Jamaican todies are very quiet birds during nonbreeding months but can be heard more frequently during the spring and summer. [2] The vocalizations of the Jamaican tody are predominately a loud beep sound and a throat-rattle. [2] (see external link below) The loud beep is a nasal sounding note that is similar in length to the loud beep of the Puerto Rican tody. [2] The throat-rattling is a rapid, harsh-sounding noise that is produced often in territorial defense. [2]

The Blue Mountains in Jamaica are one of the Jamaican tody's most common habitats Blue Mountains, Jamaica.jpg
The Blue Mountains in Jamaica are one of the Jamaican tody's most common habitats

Distribution and habitat

The Jamaican tody is endemic to Jamaica. [5] They are found all around the island and can be seen near the semi-arid coast or in the humid mountains. [5] [6] They generally travel in pairs and can be found most commonly in forested areas, occurring in second-growth, untouched habitats, [2] [8] including mesic limestone forests, arid limestone forests, montane forest, shaded coffee plantations and even mangroves. [2] The Jamaican tody is most visible during the spring and summer months, and are much more silent and easy to find during the fall and winter. [2]

Ecology and behavior

Maintenance behavior

Todies can be found generally performing two bathing techniques, bathing in flight after a dive and bathing in wet plant leaves or in light rain. [2] They also perform bill-wiping, where they will clean both sides of their beak, from base to tip, especially after eating or preening and fluffing their feathers. [2] To fluff their head feathers, they will shake their head back and forth in a fast, jerky movement. [2] Todies also preen their feathers with their flat bills and this mainly occurs in their breast and wing areas on their body. [2]

Breeding

The Jamaican tody is a relatively quiet bird during the non-breeding season. However during the breeding season, they perform increased wing-rattling for both courtship and to show other todies that this is their territory. [2] [5] Courtship feeding has also been observed in the Jamaican tody where a dead insect is exchanged between two partners. [2] In one observation of Jamaican tody copulation, the male chased the female a short distance and once she landed, he swooped down on her and held her crown while performing 29 cloacal contacts in the span of 35 seconds. [2] Soon after, throat-rattles were heard and the two todies flew away in separate directions. [2]

Jamaican todies can sometimes be found digging, in which they mainly use their rhamphotheca to create a nesting site. [2] [9] Their eggs are laid in unlined chambers near the end of their burrows, which are holes created in the soil on top of the hard, limestone habitats. [2] The eggs are round, shiny and white, except when they are freshly laid and have a pinkish tint to them. [9] They lay between 1 and 4 white eggs during their breeding season which lasts from December to July. [5] The average size of a Jamaican tody egg is about 16.1 mm long and 13.3 mm wide. [2] One egg is laid each night until the clutch is finished, and then eggs are incubated between 21 and 22 days before hatching asynchronously. [2] Once the young emerge from the shell, the eggs are left in the chamber. [2] While the burrows are generally occupied by todies, other species can sometimes be found inhabiting their homes such as spiders, field mice and lizards. [9]

Food and feeding

The Jamaican tody uses a sit-and-watch foraging strategy to capture its prey, which is similar to other todies in the genus Todus that can be found on nearby islands in the West Indies. [5] They nearly entirely feed on insects and the larvae of insects but will occasionally eat fruit as well. [5] [9] The majority of their foraging is done below nine-tenths of the maximum canopy height of the forest, and is done in both dry and wet forests. [2] From a perch, Jamaican todies scan the undersides and occasionally, uppersides of leaves for insects in which they will swoop down or up, respectively to catch insects. [2] The smaller insects are swallowed in air while the larger ones are smashed against twigs before consuming. [2] This insect consumption occurs almost continuously throughout the day, where they will eat around 1 to 2 insects per minute if available. [2] The method of drinking for the Jamaican tody has not been observed but it is assumed that they get most of their water from leaf droplets and food they consume. [2]

Jamaican tody perched on branch in tree Jamaican tody (Todus todus).jpg
Jamaican tody perched on branch in tree

Threats to survival

Forest fragmentation may have an impact on the Jamaican tody. When the todies were translocated between 0.6km and 4km in a study, only 62% returned to their territories. [10] Increasing the number of tree coverage seemed to increase normal bird movement and therefore supports the need to increase protection of forested areas as well as increase restoration of tree coverage in deforested areas. [10] Aside from humans, loud noises, such as cars, may seem threatening to the Jamaican tody and cause them to display territorial behavior. [2] These displays include wing-flicking, flank displays where the flank feathers expand over the edge of lower wings, and a horizontal glare, where the Jamaican tody will stare down an opponent as a form of intimidation. [2] Territorial vocalizations can also be heard and include throat-rattles and loud beeps. [2] The major predatory threat to the Jamaican tody is the introduced mongoose, which destroy tody burrows that house young that are still in their nestling stage. [2]

Relationship to humans

A large number of avian habitats in Jamaica are being altered by humans for both settlement as well as farming purposes. [11] Coffee production is a large export for Jamaica and with coffee farms comes a great amount of biodiversity, some more welcomed than others. [11] The pest control services provided by birds was examined in Jamaica's Blue Mountains. [11] The most common pest found was the coffee berry borer, since their entire life is spent inside of coffee berries. [11] The Jamaican tody was found to be one of the top five birds on coffee farms in the Blue Mountains that help to keep the number of pests under control, leading to more saleable fruit, increased coffee yields and increased income for farmers. [11]

Status

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Jamaican tody is classified as least concern. [1] The justification for this classification is that although they live in a small range, they still meet the size criterion and do not have greater than 30% decrease in population size over 10 years. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motmot</span> Family of birds

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tody</span> Family of birds

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puerto Rican tody</span> Species of bird

The Puerto Rican tody is a bird endemic to Puerto Rico. It is locally known in Spanish as "San Pedrito" and "medio peso".

<i>Todus</i> Genus of birds

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuban tody</span> Species of bird

The Cuban tody is a bird species in the family Todidae that is restricted to Cuba and the adjacent islands.

<i>Momotus</i> Genus of birds

Momotus is a small genus of the motmots, a family of near passerine birds found in forest and woodland of the Neotropics. They have a colourful plumage, which is green on the back becoming blue on the flight feathers and the long tails. The barbs near the ends of the two longest central tail feathers fall off, leaving a length of bare shaft so that tails appear racket-shaped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad-billed tody</span> Species of bird endemic to Hispaniola

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.

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."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tody motmot</span> Species of bird

The tody motmot is a species of near-passerine bird in the motmot family Momotidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Hylomanes. It is found in Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russet-crowned motmot</span> Species of bird

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narrow-billed tody</span> Species of bird endemic to Hispaniola

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 BirdLife International (2016). "Todus todus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22683018A92973417. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22683018A92973417.en . Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Kepler, Angela Kay (1977). Comparative study of todies (Todidae), with emphasis on the Puerto Rican tody, Todus mexicanus /. Cambridge, Mass.: Nuttall Ornithological Club. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.155243.
  3. 1 2 Hoyo, Josep del. Elliott, Andrew. Sargatal, Jordi. Cabot, José. (1992). Handbook of the birds of the world . Lynx Edicions. ISBN   84-87334-10-5. OCLC   861071869.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Overton, Lowell C; Rhoads, Douglas D (2008). "Molecular phylogenetic relationships based on mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences for the Todies (Todus, Todidae) of the Caribbean". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 32 (2): 524–538. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.01.004. ISSN   1055-7903. PMID   15223035.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Raffaele, Herbert A. Pedersen, Tracy. Williams, Kristin. (1998). A guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press. ISBN   0-691-08736-9. OCLC   37770795.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. 1 2 3 Bond, James (1993). The Peterson Field Guide Series: A Field Guide to Birds of the West Indies. Houghton Mifflin Company.
  7. 1 2 3 Sharpe, R. Bowdler (2008-06-28). "On the Genus Todus". Ibis. 16 (4): 344–355. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919x.1874.tb05953.x. ISSN   0019-1019.
  8. ↑ "Jamaican Tody - Introduction | Neotropical Birds Online". neotropical.birds.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Scott, W. E. D. (1892). "Observations on the Birds of Jamaica, West Indies". The Auk. 9 (2): 120–129. doi:10.2307/4067933. ISSN   0004-8038. JSTOR   4067933.
  10. 1 2 Kennedy, Christina M.; Marra, Peter P. (2010). "Matrix mediates avian movements in tropical forested landscapes: Inference from experimental translocations". Biological Conservation. 143 (9): 2136–2145. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.05.025. ISSN   0006-3207.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 KELLERMANN, JHERIME L.; JOHNSON, MATTHEW D.; STERCHO, AMY M.; HACKETT, STEVEN C. (2010). "Ecological and Economic Services Provided by Birds on Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Farms". Conservation Biology. 22 (5): 1177–1185. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.00968.x. hdl: 2148/226 . ISSN   0888-8892. PMID   18616745. S2CID   21931836.
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