Grey-headed Elaenia

Overview

The grey-headed elaenia, or Atlantic grey elaenia (Myiopagis caniceps), is a species of tyrant flycatcher found in parts of South America. Classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, it has a large range across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay, although its population is believed to be decreasing in some areas.

Identification

• Length of 12 to 14 cm with a weight between 9.5 and 17 g.
• Males have a medium gray crown with a partially concealed white stripe, olive gray upperparts, and black wings with white edges; females have a pale yellow crown stripe, bright greenish olive upperparts, and yellow-edged wings.
• Both sexes possess a short black bill with a lighter base to the mandible, brown irises, and grayish black to black legs.
• Vocalisation consists of a series of high notes gliding down into a long trill, often finishing with lilting notes.

Habitat

Inhabits the canopy of dry forest, gallery forest, cerradão, and dry semi-deciduous woodlands, and is occasionally found in regrowing vegetation within Eucalyptus plantations. Found from sea level to 1,200 m in elevation across northeastern, southern, and southeastern Brazil, as well as southern Bolivia, extreme northwestern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay.

Diet

Feeds on insects and small fruits, typically foraging in the forest canopy or high on its outer edges. It gleans food from foliage and twigs from a perch or while briefly hovering and regularly joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Did you know?

Its nest is an open cup constructed from plant fibers, decorated externally with lichens, moss, and small leaves, and lined internally with feathers.