Yellow-bellied Elaenia

The Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Elaenia flavogaster, is a small bird of the tyrant flycatcher family. It breeds from southern Mexico through Central and South America as far as northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago.

This is a common bird in semi-open woodland, scrub, gardens and cultivation. It makes a cup nest and lays two cream eggs with reddish blotches at the larger end. The female incubates for 16 days, with about the same period to fledging.

Adults are 16.5cm long and weigh 24g. They have olive-brown upperparts, a white eye ring, a bushy divided crest and a white crown patch in the parting. The throat is pale and the breast greyish, with pale yellow lower underparts.

Yellow-bellied Elaenia is a noisy and conspicuous bird which feeds on insects, sometimes caught in flight, and berries.

The call is a nasal breeer, and the song is a wheezing zhu-zhee-zhu-zhee.

References

• Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0–7136–6418–5
• Birds of Trinidad and Tobago by ffrench, ISBN 0–7136–6759–1