Black-cheeked Warbler

How to find it

Check mixed flocks in highland oak forest, since the warbler often travels with them outside the breeding season. Watch for flocks led by the Sooty-capped Chlorospingus. One birding group walking a highland oak forest entrance road met a mixed flock as soon as they left the bus, and this warbler was among the birds seen. Look low, in bamboo and in the tangle left by fallen trees. Views can be brief, as one tour found along the Providencia Road, though they were good. Learn the song and call beforehand, because the bird can be hard to see.

How to recognise it

Look first at the head, then at the body.

- Crown: rufous.

- Eyebrow: a long white stripe.

- Cheeks: black.

- Back: dull olive.

- Breast: olive-grey.

- Belly: yellowish white.

Males and females look alike, so there is no need to sort the sexes in the field. Young birds are browner above, with a dull eyebrow, a greyer breast and two cinnamon wing bars. A plainer, brownish warbler in the same bamboo tangle may therefore be a youngster of this species rather than something different.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

This warbler eats mainly insects, spiders and other small invertebrates, and it takes them low down in the undergrowth. That is why you scan the lower tangle rather than the canopy.

Outside the breeding season it often joins mixed flocks, especially flocks led by the Sooty-capped Chlorospingus. On the Quebrada trail at Savegre, a small group was seen foraging low through the tangle left by a big fallen tree. Birders who have met it near Cerro de la Muerte describe it moving through branches and being hard to see.

Where it lives

The Black-cheeked Warbler is usually found in oak forest with a dense bamboo understory in the Talamancan highlands. Across its range this habitat runs from about 2500 m up to the timberline, and sometimes as low as 1600 m.

In Costa Rica the nominate form lives in the central and southern parts of the country. The Talamanca highlands run from Cerro de la Muerte down to San Vito and cover much of La Amistad International Park. The species has also been recorded in the Savegre Valley and at Cloudbridge Nature Reserve.

Similar birds

The Rufous-capped Warbler is a related species and the two are said to sound alike. The Rufous-capped lives in coffee fields, dry forest and second growth, while the Black-cheeked lives in highland bamboo thickets, so habitat helps. The Costa Rican Warbler, also endemic, has olive-brown upperparts, a dark cheek and black and white head striping.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Spanish name used in Costa Rica is Reinita Carinegra. Another Spanish name listed for the species is Chiví de Mejillas Negras.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it R-END, a resident endemic, and it is listed as Least Concern.

Photography tips

Work the lower tangle and bamboo rather than the canopy, and check mixed flocks, which the warbler often joins. Fallen-tree tangles along trails such as the Quebrada trail at Savegre have held foraging groups. Expect hard-to-see, brief views, and learning the voice first helps you find the bird in thick cover.