Tepui Elaenia Elaenia olivina Scientific name definitions

14·5–14·7 cm; 14·9–20·4 g. Small elaenia with slightly crested, rounded head, narrow white coronal stripe usually visible. Dark olive-brown upperparts  , narrow yellowish-white eyering, two whitish wingbars, inner flight-feathers edged yellowish and tertials broadly edged white; below yellowish, heavily washed olive on throat , breast and flanks, with clear yellow central yellow underparts ; iris dark brown, bill black with pinkish base to mandible, and tarsi black. Darker and more yellowish than E. flavogaster, E. chiriquensis and E. cristata, all of which to overlap with present species to some extent. Nominate subspecies is browner above, darker and more uniformly olive below, bill somewhat longer; davidwillardi is similar, but has upperparts darker olive-brown and underparts brighter.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Until recently considered conspecific with E. pallatangae, but differs in its shade darker olive crown and upperparts (1); brighter yellow underparts (1); slightly larger size, most obviously in bill (effect size in males 2.18; score 2); reportedly different voice, a sharper “pseeu” vs an abrupt burry “breeyp”, a “wree-yr” and a “wree?” (1 Ridgely, R. S., and G. Tudor (2009). Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, USA. Close ), although available recordings of comparable calls allow measurement only of much higher frequency in olivina (3) (2 Boesman, P. (2016). Notes on the vocalizations of Sierran Elaenia (Elaenia pallatangae). HBW Alive Ornithological Note 133. In: Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Close ); placed in a different clade (3 Rheindt, F. E., L. Christidis, and J. A. Norman (2008). Habitat shifts in the evolutionary history of a Neotropical flycatcher lineage from forest and open landscapes. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:193. Close , 4 Rheindt, F. E., L. Christidis, and J. A. Norman (2009). Genetic introgression, incomplete lineage sorting and faulty taxonomy create multiple cases of polyphyly in a montane clade of tyrant-flycatchers (Elaenia, Tyrannidae). Zoological Scripta 38(2):143–153. Close ). Subspecies davidwillardi presumed to belong here. Two subspecies recognized.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Humid montane and wet forest borders, stunted montane scrub around edges and rocky openings; also second growth dominated by melastomes (Melastomataceae). At 950–2400 m in Venezuela.

Insects and fruits, especially melastomes. Perches quietly and erect for long periods of time, at all levels from understorey to canopy. Often joins mixed-species flocks. Perch-gleans insects in foliage.

Not well known (with nothing recorded for subspecies davidwillardi), but seems generally higher-pitched than formerly conspecific E. pallatangae. The presumed day song (nominate olivina) comprises irregular sharp notes, e.g. “chi-tree-trew...tree-trew...chip...”. Call  of nominate olivina a “pfeééu”, most like call of E. frantzii, or a mellower descending “pieuw”.

Birds with enlarged gonads in Jan–Apr in Venezuela. No further information.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common in Venezuela (even abundant on Cerro de la Neblina), where present in Canaíma National Park, in Venezuela; almost no information on status in Brazil (where known from just three localities, Serra Parima, Cerro Uei-Tepui and Cerro Urutani) and Guyana.