Jamaican Tody

About the Jamaican Tody

The Jamaican tody (Todus todus) 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 Jamaican tody was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the kingfishers in the genus Alcedo and coined the binomial name Alcedo todus. Linnaeus cited earlier works including the 1713 description by the English parson and naturalist John Ray, the 1725 description by the collector Hans Sloane, the 1750 description and hand-colour etching by George Edwards and the 1756 description by Irish physician Patrick Browne. The Jamaican tody is now one of five species placed in the genus Todus that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson.

The Jamaican tody is a small, chunky bird that averages about 9 cm (or 4.25") in size. The wing size for all tody species ranges between 42.8mm and 50.3mm. 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... Wikipedia →