Birdfinding.info ⇒ Common in humid woodlands and usually present at popular sites such as Rocklands Bird Sanctuary, Marshall’s Pen, Robin’s Bay, San San, Ecclesdown Road, and anywhere in Cockpit Country and the eastern mountains. Typically uses earthen banks for its nest burrows, so it tends to be found near streams, ravines, road cuts, and other formations that expose surfaces suitable for horizontal excavation.
Jamaican Tody
Todus todus
Endemic to Jamaica, where it occurs in wooded areas including forests, open woodlands, plantations, and large gardens. Generally absent from drier habitats.
Identification
Unique within its range. Easily recognized by its tiny size, round body, long bill, bright green upperparts, and ruby red throat.
Jamaican Tody. (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; December 26, 2007.) © Jan van den Broeck
Jamaican Tody, showing greenish vest and vent. (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; January 29, 2016.) © Carla Bregman
Often shows a greenish “vest” and greenish or lemon-yellow wash on the sides, belly, and vent. Also has strawberry-pink tufts on its flanks that are usually concealed.
Jamaican Tody, showing rosy tufts on flanks and yellowish wash on vent. (Green Castle Estate, Jamaica; April 21, 2018.) © Julie Filiberti
Jamaican Tody, showing mostly whitish underparts. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; February 2014.) © Tom Davis
Jamaican Tody. (Burnt Hill, Jamaica; April 18, 2014.) © Gil Ewing
Jamaican Tody, showing only a yellowish wash on underparts. (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; July 23, 2015.) © Jeff Gerbracht
Jamaican Tody. (Jamaica; February 22, 2018.) © Glenn Bartley
Jamaican Tody. (Windsor, Jamaica; July 5, 2008.) © Steve Metz
Jamaican Tody. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 28, 2019.) © Matthew Grube
Jamaican Tody, showing greenish vest, rosy tufts on flanks, and yellowish wash on vent. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.) © Matthew Grube
Jamaican Tody, with throat feathers bristling while calling, and showing rosy tufts on flanks and yellowish wash on vent. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 29, 2019.) © Michael Woodruff
Notes
Monotypic species.
References
eBird. 2018. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed September 30, 2018.)
Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Kepler, K.A., and G.M. Kirwan. 2017. Jamaican Tody (Todus todus). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie, and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. https://www.hbw.com/node/55816. (Accessed November 28, 2017.)
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.