Least Pygmy-Owl

Deep blue ground-dweller with shining forehead and shoulder patches; belly can appear mottled blue-and-black in the right lighting. Inhabits foothills and montane forests, where it sticks closely to water, especially rocky streams and smaller rivers with overhanging vegetation and rocky ledges. Song is an eerie and human-like series of variable, deliberate-sounding whistles. Call is a high thin “tseeeeee.”

Highly migratory flycatcher that breeds in central Argentina from around September through March, then disperses north to Bolivia and Paraguay, and occasionally wanders even farther. Male is glossy black with a silvery, black-tipped bill. He has a white on the underside of the wing that is usually hidden while perched. Female is brown and buff with white wingbars, cinnamon rump and tail base, and faint mottling on the breast. Very similar to White-winged Black-Tyrant; female is paler on the breast and belly, but males are virtually indistinguishable in the field. Inhabits stunted forest, scrub, and overgrown clearings.

Rather bulky small flycatcher, widespread in tropical lowlands. Fairly common in overgrown brushy clearings, savannas, and other semi-open areas with scattered bushes. Looks like many other small flycatchers, and where multiple species of elaenias occur it is often not possible to identify birds to species. On Yellow-bellied, note its spiky, white-based crest (rarely held flattened), burry drawled call, whitish wingbars, and pale yellow belly; does not flick its wings or tail.