Plain-crested Elaenia (Elaenia cristata)
[order] PASSERIFORMES | [family] Tyrannidae | [latin] Elaenia cristata | [UK] Plain-crested Elaenia | [FR] elaene huppe | [DE] Kappenelaenie | [ES] Fiofio Crestado | [NL] Kap-elenia
Subspecies
| Genus | Species | subspecies | Breeding Range | Breeding Range 2 | Non Breeding Range |
| Elaenia | cristata | SA | ne. e | ||
| Elaenia | cristata | alticola | |||
| Elaenia | cristata | cristata |
Physical charateristics
It is recognized by its generally raised crown without any white, the olive-green tinge to the back, the narrow pale eye-ring, the two white wing-bars and the white edging to the wing feathers. The throat is whitish becoming grey on the breast and pale yellow on the belly.
Listen to the sound of Plain-crested Elaenia
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| wingspan min.: | 0 | cm | wingspan max.: | 0 | cm |
| size min.: | 14 | cm | size max.: | 15 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 0 | days | incubation max.: | 0 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 1 | ||
| eggs max.: | 3 |
Range
South America : ne. East
Habitat
Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland. It inhabits savannah with scattered bushes and cerrado and is the only elaenia that is so tied to savannah vegetation.
Reproduction
Nest is a woven cup of fine material, line with wool. Clutch size is 2 eggs, no further data.
Feeding habits
Fruits and insects, talen by perch gleaning and short saliies. Often seen in loosely associated pairs.
Conservation
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Migration
Mainly resident, but in some areas (Peru and South Brasil) fluctuating numbers might indicate migration pattern.
Distribution map
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