Mike and tweeters,

You asked about how "elaenia" is pronounced. I've always heard it pronounced like the woman's name "Elaine" + "yuh". I'm not sure what origin the name derives from. Elaenia is the genus of some, but not all, of the New World tropics flycatchers with the common name Elaenia.

Good birding, Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Wile" <mikewile at comcast.net>
To: "Devorah Bennu" <birdologist at yahoo.com>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Birds in the News -- White-crested Elaenia edition


> Hi Tweets-
>
> I spent a few weeks in Chile last February where the white-crested elaenia
> was one of the most common birds. It was a pleasure to watch these little
> creatures at work. One thing I was not able to get an answer on was how
> to pronounce elaenia (the Chileans call them fio-fios which is a pretty
> good representation of some of their calls). Would some one please give
> me a phonetic on elaenia?
>
> Thanks
> Mike
>
> Mike Wile

Bob Sundstrom
Tenino, Washington
ixoreus at scattercreek.com