Rufous-crowned Elaenia / Roodkruinelenia

Rufous-crowned Elaenia (Elaenia ruficeps)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Foek Chin Joe	© Jan Hein Ribot	© Foek Chin Joe
© Foek Chin Joe	© Foek Chin Joe	© Pieter Verheij
© Carl Beel	© Carl Beel	© Martin Reid
© Klaas de Jong

Rufous-crowned Elaenia: the first photo of a bird building its nest at the Tafelberg was made by Foek Chin Joe in March 2005. This bird can be found in savannas in dense thickets (cerrado), where it is uncommon. The picture is the first proof of nesting in Suriname. The second nest was also found by Foek and can be seen in the photographs below of a nest with two eggs near Zanderij airport. The first photo below was made by Jan Hein Ribot in March 2006 and the others of the same nest and of one of the parents by Foek Chin Joe. Then a picture that was made by Pieter Verheij in January 2005 near Phedra: you can just see the rufous crown. The vague pattern on its breast can be seen in the two last pictures made by Carl Beel.
It seems from the photos, that the two nest were made of the same materials and were constructed in the same plant. Rufous-crowned elaenias eat berries and insects. The sound of a rufous-crowned elaenia was taped at the Tafelberg by Ottema.

Birdsounds (click on them to listen)
Sound recording of a Rufous-crowned Elaenia © Otte Ottema, bird guide

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Elaenia ruficeps
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Tyrannidae, 91 in Suriname
Dutch:	Roodkruinelenia
English:	Rufous-crowned Elaenia
Sranan ('Surinamese'):	Tyarman, Tityari
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Bobito copetón mo&ncirc;o rojo
Portugese (Brazil):	Guaracava-de-topete-vermelho
Arowak:
Carib:
French:

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 132 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 2 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 132 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 2 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).