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ShrublandCup nestSmall · 15 g
What the Lesser Elaenia sounds like
ID tip
The lesser elaenia is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 11.5 to 22 g (0.41 to 0.78 oz). It is a small elaenia with a small squarish crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a grayish olive head with lighter cheeks, a thin whitish eyering, and a partially hidden white patch on the crown. Their upperparts are grayish olive. Their wings are mostly dusky with whitish edges on the flight feathers. The tips of the coverts are white and show as two wide bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The lesser elaenia's dawn song is a "very high, hurried, 'tju-wee tju-weederwee' " whose "wee" notes are higher than the others. It has many calls including "a clear, whistled 'weeééa' " and a "burry 'beer-ta' or 'chí-bur' or 'jwebu' ", and "a longer 'freee' ".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Lesser Elaenia
One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is March, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Lesser Elaenia
The map shades 13 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Curaçao.
About the Lesser Elaenia
The lesser elaenia is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, on Trinidad, in every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay, and as a vagrant on Bonaire and Curaçao.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Large ElaeniaElaenia spectabilisThe large elaenia is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 20 to 35 g (0.71 to 1.2 oz).
Sierran ElaeniaElaenia pallatangaeThe sierran elaenia is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 12 to 18 g (0.42 to 0.63 oz).
Plain-crested ElaeniaElaenia cristataThe plain-crested elaenia is 12.5 to 15 cm (4.9 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 18 g (0.63 oz).
Side by side: Lesser Elaenia vs Small-billed Elaenia · Caribbean Elaenia vs Lesser Elaenia · Large Elaenia vs Lesser Elaenia · Grey Monjita vs Lesser Elaenia · Lesser Elaenia vs Sierran Elaenia · Lesser Elaenia vs Plain-crested Elaenia
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