"Two families of birds are endemic to the West Indies, specifically to the Greater Antilles. One of them is composed by the todies (Todidae.) These are small, chunky-looking birds that superficially resemble hummingbirds. However, their closest relatives are kingfishers, with whom they share certain anatomical and behavioral traits. Both groups are placed in the order Coraciiformes.

All five species of todies are bright emerald-green above and have a scarlet-red throat. Their breasts, flanks, and bellies show different colors - combinations of gray, pink, yellow, blue - depending on the species. Their nests consist of burrows with terminal chambers, excavated in earthen banks in both xeric and mesic forests. The family was not always endemic to the Antilles, and it is a relict taxon: all that is left of a formerly more abundant and widespread group. There are fossil records of todids from North America where, in fact, they probably evolved. Only Hispaniola has two species. The other three are found, one each, in Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Together, extant todies comprise a single superspecies.

Todies are voracious animals that are almost exclusively insectivorous. Their constant activity and prodigious appetites force them to consume one insect almost every minute of the daytime hours. Their usual hunting technique consists of sallying out from a perch, capture an insect located on a leaf, twig, or in mid-air, and land on another perch, all in one neat, graceful movement. Like hummingbirds, when they cannot feed (at night or during prolonged periods of heavy rain) todies lower their metabolisms and temperatures to conserve energy.

Their habit of sitting motionless between sallies to catch an insect make them difficult to detect visually amongst the foliage. They are far easier to hear than to see, although they are not precisely distinguished for their vocal abilities. Their raspy and monotonous "neeet" or "prrrrrrreeet" calls and the rattling sound made with their wings during their short flights give away their presence. Extremely tame creatures that they are, they will often allow a human to approach them within a couple of meters. " Father Sanchez.