Alternative name: Giant Elaenia
- Elaenia gigas
Identification
18 cm (7 in); A large elaenia with a prominent bifurcated crest, giving a "horned" impression.
- Brown-olive upperparts
- Faint whitish eyering
- Large white coronal patch
- Pale green-olive edgings on back can give a mottled or streaked effect
- Dusky wings with two whitish wingbars
- Dusky tail
- Grey throat
- Olive breast and flanks
- Pale yellow belly and undertail-coverts
Sexes similar, females are slightly smaller. Juveniles undescribed.
Distribution
From southeast Colombia to east Ecuador, east Peru and west Bolivia.
A rare to locally fairly common species, probably extending its range due to deforestation.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Found in moist shrubland in landslides, riparian growth or in man-made clearings in the forest.
Occurs mainly at 250 to 1250 m, sometimes as high as 1800 m.
Behaviour
Usually perches upright on an exposed branch with its crest almost always raised. An active, excited species.
Diet
Feeds on insects and small fruits.
Makes short sallies into the air for its prey.
Breeding
Birds in breeding condition and a nest recorded from October to November. One nest was placed 13 m above the ground in the canopy of a tree, suspended between the branches of a vertical fork. One other nest contained two nestlings.
Movements
This is a resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Hosner, P. (2020). Mottle-backed Elaenia (Elaenia gigas), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.mobela1.01
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Mottle-backed Elaenia. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 July 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Mottle-backed_Elaenia
