Bird Guide

Torrent Tyrannulet vs White-crested Tyrannulet

Torrent Tyrannulet (Serpophaga cinerea)

Torrent Tyrannulet

Serpophaga cinerea

Tiny8 gRiverine

The torrent tyrannulet is 9.5 to 12 cm (3.7 to 4.7 in) long; eight individuals weighed an average of 8.3 g (0.29 oz). Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly black head with a partially hidden white patch in the center of the crown. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts are gray. Their wings are mostly black with gray or grayish white edges on the coverts. Their tail is black and sometimes has indistinct grayish white tips on the feathers. Their chin and throat are grayish white. The center of their breast and their belly are white and their undertail coverts slightly grayish. Voice: The torrent tyrannulet's dawn song in Costa Rica is a slow series of chip notes separated by as much as 10 seconds. Pairs also vocalize "in unison a short refrain made up of a sharp chip, rapidly repeated". Its song in the Andes has been described as "a high, thin seek!

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Torrent Tyrannulet
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, song, song and call · Napo: 'Cabañas San Isidro', 1-2 km SW Cosanga, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Jean Ogden Just Chaos Photography from Shelbyville, KY · CC BY 2.0
White-crested Tyrannulet (Serpophaga subcristata)

White-crested Tyrannulet

Serpophaga subcristata

Tiny7 gForest

The white-crested tyrannulet is 11 cm (4.3 in) long and weighs 6 to 8.6 g (0.21 to 0.30 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a gray crown and nape with white central crown feathers that are usually hidden but sometimes raised as a crest. They have a thin white supercilium, a white partial eye-ring, and a dusky line through the eye on an otherwise grayish white face. Their upperparts are grayish olive. Their wings are dusky to blackish with pale buffy edges to most of the flight feathers and two whitish to pale buffy wing bars. Voice: The white-crested tyrannulet's song differs somewhat among the subspecies. That of the nominate is described as an "almost mechanical-sounding trill with few introductory rising notes, psee psee psee-e-e-e-e-e-e". It also makes a "slower, bubbly tweetweetweetweetweetwee, and occasionally other, more jumbled chatters". The song of S. s.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the White-crested Tyrannulet
Recorded by Capovilla Pablo H · San Cristobal, San Cristóbal, Santa Fe, Argentina · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Miguel A. Paixão · CC BY 4.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Torrent Tyrannulet and White-crested Tyrannulet.