Bird Guide

Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet vs White-tailed Tyrannulet

Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet (Mecocerculus minor)

Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet

Mecocerculus minor

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The sulphur-bellied tyrannulet is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs about 11 g (0.39 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a medium gray crown. They have a thin white supercilium and a blackish stripe through the eye on an otherwise grayish white face. Their upperparts are dark olive. Their wings are dark dusky with wide buff edges on the flight feathers. Their wing coverts have wide buffy tips that show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky olive with buffy-tinged edges on the feathers. Voice: The sulphur-breasted tyrannulet's calls include "a sharp and fast 'chew-chew-chew' " that sometimes continues with more notes and "a squeakier, more nasal 'skwi-skwe-skwu-skwu' ".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Zamora-Chinchipe: Quebrada Honda, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Tommy Andriollo · CC BY 4.0
White-tailed Tyrannulet (Mecocerculus poecilocercus)

White-tailed Tyrannulet

Mecocerculus poecilocercus

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The white-tailed tyrannulet is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long and weighs 10 to 11 g (0.35 to 0.39 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a medium gray crown. They have a thin white supercilium and a faint blackish stripe through the eye on an otherwise whitish face. Their upperparts are mostly greenish olive with a bright greenish yellow rump and uppertail coverts. Their wings are dusky with pale yellow edges on the flight feathers. Their wing coverts have white to pale buff tips that show as two bars on the closed wing. Voice: The white-tailed tyrannulet's dawn song is "a high, lisping pseeee-psweet". Its day song is "a descending series of high, rising, sibilant whistles: PSEE pswee pswee psweet" that sometimes ends with "sharper pit notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the White-tailed Tyrannulet
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Pichincha: Tandayapa ridge 3 km SSW Tandayapa, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Esteban Poveda · 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: Sulphur-bellied Tyrannulet and White-tailed Tyrannulet.