Lesser Elaenia

How to find it

Look in open, grassy country with scattered bushes, not in forest. Scan low bushes in grassy areas, where it usually perches. Because it is fairly common on the Pacific slope but uncommon in the center of the country, the Pacific side is the better place to concentrate. Learn the burry two-part call before you go, since calls are the best way to separate it from other elaenias. Listen early for the hurried dawn song as well.

How to recognise it

Look for a plain olive flycatcher with these marks:

A white eyering.

Two white wingbars.

A grayish throat, an olive chest and a whitish yellow belly.

That is the whole palette, and it looks much like other elaenias, so no single mark names it.

The useful comparison in Costa Rica is the Yellow-bellied Elaenia. The Lesser is a bit smaller, a bit less yellow and less crested. The Yellow-bellied has a grayish breast, pale lores and a large bushy crest, while the Lesser carries a smaller crest.

These differences are subtle, so look at the whole bird and let the voice help you decide.

What it sounds like

Recording: agujaceratops, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This is a small bird that eats both fruit and insects. It is an open-country bird that usually perches on low bushes in grassy areas.

That tells you where to point your binoculars: at bush tops and low perches in open ground, not into forest. It is a quiet, plain bird, easy to overlook, so listening for the calls is often how you find it.

Where it lives

Across its range the Lesser Elaenia lives in overgrown clearings and other open areas with scattered vegetation, below 2000 meters elevation. Natural habitats include dry savanna, dry shrubland, seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland and heavily degraded former forest. It also uses scrub, light woodland, secondary forest, brushy streamsides, plantations and hedgerows in farmland.

In Costa Rica the local form lives in the tropical zone of the southwest. It also occurs in scattered places in the interior and on the Pacific slope from San José Province south into Panama.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica begins in March, so the dawn song is likely easier to hear around then.

Similar birds

The common lookalike in Costa Rica is the Yellow-bellied Elaenia (Elainia Copetona). Elaenia flycatchers are hard to tell apart, and some are tricky even when held in the hand, so beginners should expect confusion. Size, yellow tone and crest help, but voice is the usual way to settle it.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican name is Elainia Sabanera, and Tontillo is given as an alternate name. Sabanera points to savanna, the open grassy country where this bird lives. Tontillo is also used for the Yellow-bellied Elaenia, so the nickname covers more than one elaenia. Elsewhere it has other Spanish names, such as fiofío belicoso in Paraguay and Argentina, elenia or elaenia menor in Panama, Ecuador and Colombia, and fío-fío menor in Peru. Only Costa Rica uses elainia sabanera.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R); it is fairly common on the Pacific slope, uncommon in the center of the country, and rated Least Concern by the IUCN.

Photography tips

Look for it on low bushes in grassy areas, where it usually perches, and not in forest. Because it is quiet and easy to overlook, listen for the burry two-part call to locate a bird before you raise the camera.