Cuban Tody

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Cuban Tody

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Coraciiformes
Family:	Todidae
Genus:	Todus
Species:	T. multicolor

Binomial name

Todus multicolor
Gould, 1837

The Cuban Tody (Todus multicolor) is a tody. 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 Cuba was closer to it. The small, 11 cm long bird could have easily made it over.

They have small, flat bills, and are often seen in pairs. They mate primarily from March to June, and a female usually produces 3-4 eggs, white in color. When nesting they dig a tunnel about 0.3 m (1') in length with a chamber at the end in a clay embankment, though sometimes they use a rotten trunk or tree cavity. The walls of the tunnel and the egg chamber are covered with a thick glue-like substance mixed with grass, lichen, algae, small feathers and other materials that probably act as a sealant.

When perched, sometimes repeats a peculiar short tot-tot-tot-tot. The most characteristic call is a soft pprreeee-pprreeee, that gave origin to its common name, 'Pedorrera'.

The Cuban Tody eats mostly small adult and larval insects. It rarely eats small fruit.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Todus multicolor. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern