Highland Elaenia

About the Highland Elaenia

The highland elaenia (Elaenia obscura) is a species of bird in subfamily Elaeniinae of family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. The highland elaenia is monotypic. What is now the small-headed elaenia (E. sordida) was previously treated as a subspecies of it; between 2016 and 2020 taxonomic systems split the two.

The 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). It is a large elaenia without a crest. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark grayish olive head with lighter cheeks, a dusky loral spot, and a thin whitish eyering. Their upperparts are dark grayish olive. Their wings are mostly dusky with pale edges on the flight feathers. The tips of their wing coverts are yellowish and show as two bars on the closed wing. Their tail is dusky with white tips on unworn feathers. Their chin and throat are pale yellow, their breast and flanks dull olive, and their belly and undertail coverts pale yellow. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a stubby black bill with a pinkish base to the mandible, and black legs and feet. Juveniles... Wikipedia →