Black-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher

How to find it

Go early in the morning. Birders have found it on the Robledal trail at Km 70 on the highway over Cerro de la Muerte, at about 2800 m, and it turned up before they reached the main trail. A recordist taped a male in low roadside scrub on the Providencia Road at about 3000 m. On a 2023 guided tour, about four individuals showed well along a side road on Cerro de la Muerte. In 2024 a group saw it in the grounds of a highland lodge near Cerro de la Muerte. Check fruiting bushes and scrubby edges, since the call is weak.

How to recognise it

This is a small, rotund bird about 20 cm long, and the yellow flanks are its most distinctive mark on both sexes.

The male is:

- mostly black on the back, head, throat and tail

- bright yellow on the flanks and rump

- olive on the breast

- grey on the belly

The female is softer in colour. She has a black cap, with an olive breast, rump, wings and tail, and yellow flanks. Her throat, nape and belly are grey.

Look for that plump shape and the flash of yellow along the sides.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen alone or in pairs. A study of Costa Rican highland birds found the diet is fruit only, with seeds from 36 plant genera in the stomach contents, so fruiting bushes are the place to wait.

On Volcán Barva, a birder photographed young and adult birds feeding in fruiting bushes in a clearing. On Cerro de la Muerte, a recordist taped a male calling while it foraged low in roadside scrub.

Where it lives

It lives in mountains from about 1800 m up to the treeline, in highland forest, nearby second growth and gardens. It may wander lower after breeding. Across its range it mainly uses high montane, subalpine and dwarf (stunted) forest.

In Costa Rica it is a bird of the high cordilleras: the Tilarán and Guanacaste ranges in the north, the Central cordillera, and the Talamanca range.

When to see it

Breeding happens mainly from March to late May, before the rainy season in the Costa Rican highlands.

Similar birds

The Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher shares the same Cerro de la Muerte highlands, so the two silky-flycatchers can be seen on the same trip.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident endemic (R-END); the IUCN rates it Least Concern and it is considered fairly common in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Fruiting bushes in clearings are the best bet: young and adult birds have been photographed feeding there on Volcán Barva. Low roadside scrub on Cerro de la Muerte can also put a foraging bird within reach.