Birdfinding.info ⇒ Easy to find at upper elevations of Zapotén and Alcoa Road. Also common at various sites in the Cordillera Central, including Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve.
Hispaniolan Elaenia
Elaenia cherriei
Family: Tyrannidae
Endemic to Hispaniola, where it is common in montane forests, especially open pine woods.
Resident in the major mountain ranges: the Cordillera Central, Sierra de Neiba, Sierra de Bahoruco, Massif de la Selle, Massif de la Hotte, and Massif des Montagnes Noires. Also reported from some lowland sites, including Los Haitises National Park.
Has been recorded as a vagrant to Mona Island and Turks & Caicos.
Identification
A typical Elaenia: with two bold white wingbars and a proportionately small head. Somewhat variable in tone, it can appear primarily gray or olive above and whitish or yellowish below.
Has a broad white central crown stripe that is usually concealed.
Normally the only plain-olive, wing-barred flycatcher in its range. Hispaniolan Pewee has very faint wingbars and appears bull-headed by comparison.
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; January 30, 2014.) © Dubi Shapiro
Hispaniolan Elaenia, with white central crown stripe partly exposed. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; July 18, 2012.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Dominican Republic; November 25, 2017.) © Francisco Alba Suriel
Hispaniolan Elaenia, an individual at the gray end of the spectrum. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; July 18, 2012.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Elaenia, an individual at the yellow end of the spectrum. (Dominican Republic, December 22, 2012.) © José Miguel Pantaleón
Hispaniolan Elaenia, an individual at the yellow end of the spectrum. (Dominican Republic; May 1, 2010.) © Maryloly Guerrero
Hispaniolan Elaenia, with a yellow wash on the underparts. (Dominican Republic, December 22, 2012.) © José Miguel Pantaleón
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Zapotén, Dominican Republic; April 10, 2015.) © Alan Van Norman
Hispaniolan Elaenia, showing abnormally pronounced facial markings and mostly pink lower mandible. (Dominican Republic; May 1, 2010.) © Maryloly Guerrero
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Sierra de Bahoruco, Dominican Republic; March 29, 2017.) © Frédéric Pelsy
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; July 18, 2012.) © Dax M. Román E.
Hispaniolan Elaenia. (Ébano Verde Scientific Reserve, Dominican Republic; 2004.) © Miguel A. Landestoy T.
Voice. Typical call is a hoarse, wheezy wheep!The call is sometimes quicker and sharper:
Also produces a busy chatter:
Cf. Migrant Flycatchers. Potentially mistaken for some North American migrant species that are very rarely reported from Hispaniola, such as Eastern Wood-Pewee or Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Compared to these vagrants, Hispaniolan Elaenia has a more elongated shape, with a proportionately longer tail and smaller head. Its white crown stripe is diagnostic, but usually concealed.
Notes
Monotypic species.
Traditionally considered conspecific with Large Jamaican Elaenia, together comprising the Greater Antillean Elaenia, E. fallax, but the two forms differ significantly in vocalizations and genetic markers—apparently indicating definitive speciation.
Frontiers of Taxonomy: Two Species of Greater Antillean Elaenia.
The Elaenias that inhabit the highlands of Jamaica and Hispaniola are very similar in appearance, but close evaluation indicates that they should be recognized as separate species. The strongest support for separate treatment is that their vocalizations differ such that they do not respond to playback of one another’s calls. Mitochondrial DNA analysis has determined that their history of reproductive isolation is comparable to other recognized species in the same genus. (Rheindt et al. 2008)
The Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive adopts this view, dubbing the resulting species Large Jamaican and Hispaniolan Elaenias. In addition to vocalizations and genetic drift, they cite differences in the color of the lower mandible (mostly pink in Large Jamaican; usually dark in Hispaniolan) and underparts (yellowish and streaky in Large Jamaican; grayish or whitish in Hispaniolan).
The cited differences in plumage appear to be inconsistent, as Hispaniolan varies considerably: often grayish but also often yellowish. The bill color is more consistent, but photos show that in some cases Hispaniolan’s lower mandible can be mostly pink. An additional difference not cited in the Handbook, but potentially relevant, is facial pattern: Large Jamaican seems to have consistent markings (whitish below and behind the eye and a narrow loral bar, with a dark cheek patch), whereas Hispaniolan is usually unmarked, or in any case rarely shows the same pattern.
References
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N., and G.M. Kirwan. 2019. Hispaniolan Elaenia (Elaenia cherriei). In Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D.A. Christie and E. de Juana, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. http://www.hbw.com/node/1343702. (Accessed February 19, 2019.)
eBird. 2019. eBird: An online database of bird distribution and abundance. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, N.Y. http://www.ebird.org. (Accessed February 18, 2019.)
Latta, S., C. Rimmer, A. Keith, J. Wiley, H. Raffaele, K. McFarland, and E. Fernandez. 2006. Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. 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.
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.