Black-and-white Monjita vs Mottle-backed Elaenia

Black-and-white Monjita

Heteroxolmis dominicana

43 gGrassland

The black-and-white monjita is 20 to 20.5 cm (7.9 to 8.1 in) long. Adult males are mostly white. They have pale grayish smudging on the head and back, black wings with white outer thirds of the primaries, a long black tail, and entirely white underparts. Adult females have a brownish gray crown and back, white scapulars, and a white rump. Both sexes have a dark iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet. Juveniles have a rusty back. Voice: The black-and-white monjita is usually silent but does make a "soft, somewhat querulous weeyrt or wurrt call, especially when agitated".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Mateo Peña · CC BY 4.0

Mottle-backed Elaenia

Elaenia gigas

Small31 gShrubland

The mottle-backed elaenia is 17.5 to 18.5 cm (6.9 to 7.3 in) long. It is a large elaenia with a prominent split crest that can look like horns. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have an olive-brown head with lighter cheeks, a faint whitish eyering, and a large white patch on the crown. Their upperparts are olive-brown with paler green-olive edges on the back feathers that give a mottled or streaked appearance. Their wings are mostly dusky; the flight feathers have whitish edges and the tips of the coverts are whitish. The latter show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The mottle-backed elaenia's dawn song is " 'wurdit' or 'purdip' given repeatedly from top of low tree or bush". Its calls include "a martin-like 'direet' and a shrill 'pert-chéér' ".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Napo: Tena, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Vince Smith · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-and-white Monjita and Mottle-backed Elaenia.