Todies: Todidae

Todies range through the larger islands of the Caribbean, including the Greater Antilles in the West Indies. Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico each have one species, while Hispaniola holds two species.

Todies eat large amounts of food with respect to their tiny body size, often eating one insect or more during every minute of the daytime hours. They eat a wide variety of insect families, but chiefly consume ants, bugs, butterflies, cockroaches, damselfies, flies, grasshoppers, mantids, and mayflies. They also eat lizards, seeds, and spiders.

People degrade the territory of todies when they enter and alter the natural forests they prefer. They are often an attraction for birdwatchers, allowing people to approach them as closely as 6 feet (2 meters).

Todies, generally, are not threatened. However, in 2001, population densities decreased due to habitat destruction. The narrow-billed tody is considered Near Threatened, in danger of becoming threatened with extinction.