# Puerto Rican Tody

Scientific name: Todus mexicanus

Bird group: [tody](https://birdsofpuertorico.com/family/tody)

Canonical source: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/bird/188/Puerto-Rican-Tody

## Identification

The Puerto Rican tody (Todus mexicanus) is a bird native to the island of Puerto Rico. Despite its scientific name, the Puerto Rican tody is endemic to the island and is locally known as "San Pedrito" ("Little Saint Peter") and "Medio peso" ("half-dollar bird").


## Distribution and habitat

The Puerto Rican Tody is a fairly common species endemic 
to Puerto Rico (Oberle 2018, 
Raffaele and others 1998) 
but unconfirmed in Vieques 
(Gemmill 2015). It occurs in most 
forest habitats at all elevations, 
except in mangroves (Kepler 
1977, Oberle 2018, Raffaele 
1989a). The atlas fieldwork 
yielded a total of 581 records 
within 307 hexagons or 64 
percent of the 479 total hexagons 
(see map). Of the 307 hexagons 
where this species was found, 
breeding met the atlas definition 
of confirmed in 15 percent (45) of the hexagons, probable in 37 
percent (115), and possible in 48 
percent (147) (see map). Puerto Rican Tody distribution. The map shows the highest breeding code by hexagon and overlaying the ecological life zones in 
Puerto Rico. Note: percentages may not total 100 due to rounding. 

## Breeding

The Puerto Rican Tody digs a burrow in an earth bank 
typically between February and 
May, according to previously 
published reports (Oberle 2018). 
As observed for other species 
(e.g., Bananaquit [Coereba 
fl aveola]), nests are not always 
used for laying eggs, and many 
of them can be abandoned 
(Raffaele and others 1998). Atlas 
results indicate that this species 
breeds throughout the year, but       179Puerto Rican Tody/San Pedritomost of the breeding activity takes place from March to June 
(see chart). Results show that 
the Puerto Rican Tody breeds 
in all ecological life zones, but 
most breeding activity was 
reported for the subtropical 
moist and subtropical wet forest 
life zones (56 and 27 percent of 
the hexagons, respectively) (see 
table and map).

## Conservation

The Puerto Rican Tody is a common species on the island and is classified as a species 
of least concern by the IUCN 
(BirdLife International 2016). 
Locally, this species is not 
listed in any of the threatened 
categories of PRDNER and 
USFWS. In Puerto Rico, the 
Puerto Rican Tody has a 
protected habitat in land of 13 
percent or 942 km2 of the total area covered by the hexagons 
where evidence of breeding 
was found for this species 
(7344 km2).

Photo: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/static/images/webp/in_188_Im0.png.webp

Distribution map: https://birdsofpuertorico.com/static/images/webp/in_188_Im1.png.webp

Source note: Text is reproduced from this site's published record. Historical conservation statements and taxonomy have not been independently revalidated. See https://birdsofpuertorico.com/about for source credits and limitations.