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Small-billed Elaenia | Elaenia parvirostris
Kortsnavelelenia | Fiofío piquicorto
The Small-billed Elaenia is a migrant from southern South America that moves north after breeding and spends the austral winter in northern South America and Trinidad, among other places. In the region it is a scarce, often overlooked visitor that closely resembles the other small elaenias.
Voice
On the wintering grounds mostly silent; a soft cheeu as call. The song on the breeding grounds is a stuttering, gravelly series of notes.
Recording: Pedro Rinaldi — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13–15 cm, with a rounded head without a real crest and a short, narrow bill. The crown is olive with a partly hidden white central stripe. A distinct narrow white eye-ring stands out on the greyish face. The upperparts are olive to grey-olive. The wings have two, sometimes three, white wing bars. Throat and breast are pale grey, the belly whitish with at most a tinge of yellow. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Lesser Elaenia Elaenia chiriquensis is very similar but is yellower below and has a less distinct eye-ring; voice is the most reliable distinction. Yellow-bellied Elaenia Elaenia flavogaster is larger, with a bushy, parted crest and a yellow belly. Forest Elaenia Myiopagis gaimardii has a striped head and yellow wing bars and lives in the canopy. Euler's Flycatcher Lathrotriccus euleri has buffy wing bars and a browner breast.
Habitat
On the wintering grounds edges and clearings of forest, secondary forest, taller scrub, savanna with trees, parks and gardens; also the canopy of humid forest. It eats insects and many small fruits and berries.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Within the region a scarce non-breeding visitor to Trinidad, mainly from May to September with most records in August. There are isolated records from Aruba in May. It breeds in Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, southern Brazil and northern Argentina and migrates in the austral winter to the western Amazon basin, Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas.
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Forest edges and secondary growth in Trinidad between June and September offer the best chance. Elaenias away from gardens with no parted crest and a distinct white eye-ring are worth a closer look; a photograph helps with identification.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a very large range and is considered common.
Scientific name
Elaenia parvirostris | Pelzeln, 1868
Pelzeln described the species in 1868 as Elainea parvirostris; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Elaenia was introduced in 1836 by Sundevall. Elaenia comes from Greek elaineos 'oily, olive-coloured', after the olive-green plumage. parvirostris is Latin, from parvus 'small' and rostrum 'bill', after the short bill. The specimen the first description was based on came from Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil.