Grey-crowned Yellowthroat vs Olive-crowned Yellowthroat

Grey-crowned Yellowthroat

Geothlypis poliocephala

Tiny15 gShrubland

The grey-crowned yellowthroat is about 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weighs about 13 to 16 g (0.46 to 0.56 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. It has a long graduated tail and a stout bill with a visibly curved culmen. Adult males of the nominate subspecies G. p. poliocephala have a mostly olive-gray head with a gray crown, black lores, and white crescents above and below the eye. Their nape, upperparts, wings, and tail are grayish olive-brown. Their throat, breast, and undertail coverts are yellow, their flanks washed with buff, and their belly yellowish white. Voice: The grey-crowned yellowthroat's range-wide song is "a long rich series of varied and jumbled musical phrases". It also has some regional second songs, in Mexico "a series of rich rising and falling whistles" and in Costa Rica "a series of rapidly delivered clear whistled notes accelerating into descending trill".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Arabella Willing · CC BY 4.0

Olive-crowned Yellowthroat

Geothlypis semiflava

Small17 gShrubland

The olive-crowned yellowthroat is 11.1 to 13.5 cm (4.4 to 5.3 in) long and weighs 15.5 to 17.5 g (0.55 to 0.62 oz). The species is sexually dimorphic. Adult males of the nominate subspecies G. s. semiflava have a wide black mask from their forehead and forecrown around the eye to the side of the neck. The rest of their head and their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive-green. Their throat and underparts are yellow with an olive wash on the flanks. Adult females have no black on their face. They have a mostly olive-green head with a thin yellowish supercilium. Voice: In Costa Rica the olive-crowned yellowthroat sings "sweet, wren-like phrases". One rendering of it is "wichay-chu wichaychu wichaychu witchetchay-chu witchety chay-chu witchety chay-chu witchety-chrrr". The nominate subspecies sings "a rich and musical series of phrases that usually ends in a jumble". It has been written as "sew-sew-swe’swe’sweseewuu-seewuu...".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Manabí: La Segua marsh (Chone lakes), Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Thomas Ebner · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Grey-crowned Yellowthroat and Olive-crowned Yellowthroat.