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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pbjosh" data-source="post: 3608332" data-attributes="member: 117939">Bugmat did you hear the SB and Lessers that you ID'd? I'm not trying to be rude or provocative, it's a genuine question. One of your SB photos looks to show enough wingbar to make a solid ID, and the rounded head and strong white eye ring look good as well. The other SB photo and the Lesser, I don't see enough that I personally would use to absolutely distinguish if I hadn't heard them, though. While your Lesser (photo 2) does show a slightly more peaked head and yellower chest than the SB (photo 1), it also shows a touch more of an eye ring. I wouldn't argue with your IDs by any means, but shy of voice it's hard to be certain, I feel.From everything I've read and seen, bill size, eye ring, coloration, and crested appearance can overlap between the species. In areas where White-crested is present it is even harder to distinguish, and the various subsp of WC that are probably valid sp don't help the matter. If there's literature out there on visual ID that I'm not aware of I'd love to see it. And of course you're free to ID them however you like, but you came here asking for advice and then suggested Greenish or Pacific Elaenia, which the bird is obviously not, before suggesting that you can separate Lesser from SB, which is a great challenge, so it leaves me a bit confused.One other thought is that Lesser is resident there and ought to be able to be provoked into vocalizing, at least seasonally. In a case like that I'd let the bird calm down a bit from the pygmy-owl playback then try Lesser playback. If it doesn't respond you haven't lost anything other than a minute or two but if it vocalizes you might be able to clinch it. SB is extremely unlikely to vocalize there, perhaps a call or two in the early morning is the most you could hope for.</blockquote>

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