Bird Guide

Pacific Elaenia vs Shear-tailed Grey Tyrant

Pacific Elaenia (Myiopagis subplacens)

Pacific Elaenia

Myiopagis subplacens

Small16 gWoodland

The Pacific elaenia is about 14 cm (5.5 in) long; one male weighed 14.9 g (0.53 oz) and four females averaged 16.9 g (0.60 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a gray-brown crown with a partially concealed bright yellow stripe along its middle. They have whitish lores, a partial white eyering, a grizzled whitish lower face with blackish ends on the ear coverts, and a wide whitish supercilium that continues down behind the black of the ear coverts. Their upperparts are brownish olive. Voice: The Pacific elaenia's dawn song is "an endlessly repeated 'chrrr, chrrr, che-wik, chrrr, chrrr, che-wik...' ". During the day it sings "a sharp, burry PJIT! djurrrree, the second note rising" and its calls include "a gruff pjrt and similar notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Pacific Elaenia
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Azuay: upper Yunguilla Valley, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: David F. Belmonte · CC BY 4.0
Shear-tailed Grey Tyrant (Muscipipra vetula)

Shear-tailed Grey Tyrant

Muscipipra vetula

Small27 gForest

The shear-tailed grey tyrant is about 20 to 22.5 cm (7.9 to 8.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly dull dark gray head and upperparts. They have dusky ear coverts that form a mask. They have faint streaks on the crown and back. Their wings are dusky blackish. Their tail is long, slender, and deeply notched; it is mostly dusky blackish with pale whitish edges on the undersides of the outermost pair of feathers. They have a white chin and throat, a dark gray breast, and a pale gray belly. They have a blackish iris, a dusky bill, and dusky legs and feet. Voice: The shear-tailed grey tyrant is usually quiet. Its calls have been described as a "pup-pup-pup or a disyllabic whistle, jew-bewt". The second has also been rendered as a "low duh-djúp".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Carlos Henrique Luz Nunes de Almeida · CC BY 3.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Pacific Elaenia and Shear-tailed Grey Tyrant.