Bird Guide

Small-billed Elaenia vs Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Small-billed Elaenia (Elaenia parvirostris)

Small-billed Elaenia

Elaenia parvirostris

Tiny14 gForest

The small-billed elaenia is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long. It is a small elaenia without a crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a bright olive-green crown with a partially visible white stripe in the middle. They have whitish lores and a thin but distinct white eyering. Their upperparts are bright olive-green. Their wings are dusky with whitish tips on the coverts that show as three wing bars. Their flight feathers have narrow whitish edges. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The small-billed elaenia's dawn song is "a stuttering, deep, gravelly PEE-jip-p'p'jooee?". It has also been written as a "hurried, strong 'Wee-dr-dee-wuh' ". It is mostly silent on its wintering grounds but does make "a soft 'cheeu' " call there.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: (c) Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Reinaldo de Oliveira Elias · cc-by
Yellow-bellied Elaenia (Elaenia flavogaster)

Yellow-bellied Elaenia

Elaenia flavogaster

Small25 gWoodland

The yellow-bellied elaenia is 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 21 to 29 g (0.74 to 1.0 oz). It is medium-sized, has a small head, and a bushy crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies E. f. flavogaster have a brownish olive crown with a partially concealed white stripe in the middle of the crest. They have whitish lores and a faint whitish eyering on an otherwise pale brownish olive face. Their upperparts are brownish olive. Voice: The yellow-bellied elaenia's dawn song has been rendered as "trr-dyeéuw, trr-trreeenh-weeeuw" or "we-do, we-do". Other renderings are "a series of burry teeotree or tee-tree notes interspersed with an occasional wurrTREE" and "a leisurely and buzzy spud-deeer, spud-deer-dzz, spud-deer... over and over".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Recorded by Gean Carlo Valdés · Call · Islas secas, Panama · CC0
Photo: Anthony Batista · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Small-billed Elaenia and Yellow-bellied Elaenia.