Puerto Rican Tody

Todus mexicanus

Puerto Rico's gem of the forest understory. Snaps up insects mid-air with an audible click of its bill.

Population: Unquantified but described as common/stable across its range; no numeric global estimate published; population trend also listed as unknown but not believed to be declining rapidly
Habitat: Subtropical/tropical dry and moist lowland and high-elevation forests, woodlands, arid scrub, dense thickets, and shaded coffee plantations, often near watercourses, from sea level to about 1,300 m
Fun fact: The Puerto Rican Tody maintains an unusually low body temperature (around 36.7°C versus ~40°C typical for similarly sized Coraciiformes), which is thought to reduce its energy expenditure by roughly a third (33%); only breeding females are known to enter torpor, dropping body temperature by up to 14°C further.
Range: Endemic to the main island of Puerto Rico (USA territory); year-round resident, extent of occurrence roughly 9,900 km²
Diet: Primarily insectivorous flycatcher (insects make up roughly 85% of diet — crickets, grasshoppers, katydids, beetles, flies, dragonflies, ants, wasps, spiders ~8.2%), occasionally taking small lizards (~3.5%) and frogs, and some fruit (e.g. Clusia krugiana) fed to chicks
Size: 0.11 m

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