Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernInvertebrates

ShrublandCup nestSmall · 31 g

Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas), photo 2 — Photo: (c) Tristan Jobin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas), photo 3 — Photo: (c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas), photo 4 — Photo: (c) Darío De la Fuente, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas), photo 5 — Photo: (c) Julien Renoult, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

What the Mottle-backed Elaenia sounds like

Sonogram of the Mottle-backed Elaenia: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Napo: Tena, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, calls · Orellana: river island at Añangu, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Pastaza: Isla Sharamentsa, Río Pastaza, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The mottle-backed elaenia is 17.5 to 18.5 cm (6.9 to 7.3 in) long. It is a large elaenia with a prominent split crest that can look like horns. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have an olive-brown head with lighter cheeks, a faint whitish eyering, and a large white patch on the crown. Their upperparts are olive-brown with paler green-olive edges on the back feathers that give a mottled or streaked appearance. Their wings are mostly dusky; the flight feathers have whitish edges and the tips of the coverts are whitish. The latter show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky. Voice: The mottle-backed elaenia's dawn song is " 'wurdit' or 'purdip' given repeatedly from top of low tree or bush". Its calls include "a martin-like 'direet' and a shrill 'pert-chéér' ".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Mottle-backed Elaenia

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 9 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Mottle-backed Elaenia

Regular range

The map shades 4 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Ecuador Peru Colombia Bolivia

About the Mottle-backed Elaenia

The mottle-backed elaenia is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Highland ElaeniaElaenia obscuraThe highland elaenia is 16 to 19 cm (6.3 to 7.5 in) long and weighs about 14 to 24 g (0.49 to 0.85 oz).

Blue Mountain ElaeniaElaenia fallaxThe Blue Mountain elaenia is 14.5 to 16 cm (5.7 to 6.3 in) long and weighs about 13 to 15 g (0.46 to 0.53 oz).

Olivaceous ElaeniaElaenia mesoleucaThe olivaceous elaenia is 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 16 to 20 g (0.56 to 0.71 oz).

Side by side: Mottle-backed Elaenia vs Small-headed Elaenia · Black-and-white Monjita vs Mottle-backed Elaenia · Highland Elaenia vs Mottle-backed Elaenia

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