Bird Guide

Cuban Pewee vs Patagonian Tyrant

Cuban Pewee (Contopus caribaeus)

Cuban Pewee

Contopus caribaeus

Tiny11 gForest

The Cuban pewee is 15 to 16.5 cm (5.9 to 6.5 in) long and weighs 8.5 to 13.5 g (0.30 to 0.48 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. c. caribaeus have a dark olive-gray crown with a slight crest, slightly paler olive-gray lores, and a whitish crescent around the back of the eye on an otherwise olive-brown face. Their back is also olive-brown. Their wings are dusky brown with pale tips on the coverts that show as two faint wing bars. The wing's outer secondaries and tertials have whitish edges. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The dawn song of the Cuban pewee's nominate subspecies is "a high squeaky whistle, eeah, ooweeah, usually given sequentially". That of C. c. bahamensis adds a "dee-dee" phrase to the end of the same song. During the day the species sings "a prolonged descending weeeooooo". Its calls are "a repeated weet or dee softer dep or vi-vi notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ekaterina Chernetsova (Papchinskaya) from Saint-Petersburg, Russia · CC BY 2.0
Patagonian Tyrant (Colorhamphus parvirostris)

Patagonian Tyrant

Colorhamphus parvirostris

Tiny11 gForest

The Patagonian tyrant is 12 to 13 cm (4.7 to 5.1 in) long. The sexes have essentially the same plumage though females sometimes have a darker throat than males. Adults have a mostly gray head with a darker brownish gray crown and a blackish streak behind the eye. Their upperparts are olive-brown. Their wings are blackish brown with wide cinnamon edges on the coverts that show as two wing bars. Their tail is blackish brown. Their throat and underparts are grayish with a yellowish wash on the belly, flanks, and undertail coverts. They have a black iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet. Voice: The Patagonian tyrant's most frequently heard song is "a long, descending whistle, often repeated every three to four seconds", into which it sometimes mixes shorter whistles. It less often sings a "more complex vocalization containing three distinct phrases". Its calls are "variable, high-pitched, long and clear whistled notes" that are somewhat similar to the primary song.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Nicolas Olejnik · CC BY 4.0

Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cuban Pewee and Patagonian Tyrant.