Birdfinding.info ⇒ Uncommon, inconspicuous, and easily overlooked. Hardwar Gap is probably the most reliable site, especially the Woodside Track. Other sites where it can often be found include Marshall’s Pen, Stewart Town, San San, and Ecclesdown Road.
Small Jamaican Elaenia
Myiopagis cotta
Family: Tyrannidae
Endemic to Jamaica, where it occurs in humid montane and foothill forests the length of the island.
Identification
A small, perky flycatcher that forages at all levels, from high undergrowth to canopy. Best recognized by its typical Myiopagis traits: prominently contrasting dark eyeline and short, whitish eyebrow; thin, black bill; and tendency to perch horizontally.
Its throat is whitish, breast and belly yellowish, upperparts olive-brown, and secondaries and tertials edged yellow. Wingbars are faint, nearly absent.
Bright yellow crown stripe is diagnostic, but rarely visible.
Small Jamaican Elaenia, with yellow crown stripe partly visible. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; February 28, 2018.) © Dubi Shapiro
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Stewart Town, Jamaica; February 2, 2019.) © Michael Woodruff
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Silver Hill Gap, Jamaica; April 28, 2016.) © Frank Mantlik
Small Jamaican Elaenia, with yellow crown stripe partly visible. (Jamaica; April 18, 2007.) © Dominic Sherony
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Marshall’s Pen, Jamaica; March 9, 2012.) © Ken Havard
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Vaughansfield, Jamaica; July 2, 2011.) © Dave Irving
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Hardwar Gap, Jamaica; January 28, 2019.) © Matthew Grube
Small Jamaican Elaenia. (Ecclesdown Road, Jamaica; April 13, 2014.) © Gil Ewing
Voice. Common calls are sharp, emphatic trills of about five notes:
Notes
Monotypic species.
Traditional English name is Jamaican Elaenia, but recognition of Large Jamaican Elaenia as a full species suggests that the name of this unrelated species should be adjusted to avoid confusion.
References
eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed February 19, 2019.)
Haynes-Sutton, A., A. Downer, R. Sutton, and Y.-J. Rey-Millet. 2009. A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Jamaica. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.
Raffaele, H., J. Wiley, O. Garrido, A. Keith, and J. Raffaele. 1998. A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.