Common Tody-Flycatcher

How to find it

Check garden shrubs, forest edges and clearings. Look for a tiny, tail-wagging yellow bird, and listen for its clicking calls. Listen first, then look for its light, fluttery flight; a Turrialba naturalist says this works wherever you travel in Costa Rica. It forages low beneath open and semi-open scrub, usually in pairs with the tail raised. It is easy to find in most gardens in the country.

How to recognise it

Look for a tiny, big-headed bird about 10 cm long. It has a black cap, an olive back, bright yellow underparts, two yellow wing bars and a long, flat, straight black bill.

The Spanish name espatulilla means 'little spatula' and refers to that bill. Up close, the yellow throat shows fine whisker-like marks.

Adults have a pale yellow eye. Young birds have a dark eye that takes several months to turn pale, so a dark-eyed bird may simply be a youngster.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

It forages in pairs, hopping sideways along branches with its tail cocked and wagging. In Costa Rica the pairs stay together all year. They take insects from eye level up to the tops of trees, using fast dashes at foliage, and it also eats some fruit.

The nest is a long hanging pouch with a side entrance under a small visor, bound with spider web. It hangs from a thin branch or vine, usually 1 to 5 m up. Pairs stand guard near it.

Where it lives

It is found from the lowlands up to about 1,150 m, and locally to 1,500 m. It avoids dense forest.

Typical habitats are garden shrubs, shaded crops, open orchards, second growth, and the edges of gallery forest and mangroves. One Turrialba naturalist finds it in gardens below about 1,600 m and notes it is missing from the higher slopes of Turrialba Volcano.

It is listed across Guanacaste, Arenal, Tempisque, Tortuguero, Osa, the Central Pacific and the Caribbean lowlands.

When to see it

Costa Rican sources give a breeding season of February to July. Nesting in Guanacaste was noted in July and August, and adults were photographed carrying food to chicks at Río Sábalo on 13 August 2024.

Similar birds

The Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher has a white throat, a dark eye and a sharp contrast where its black cap meets the yellowish-green back. It is mostly Caribbean-side, found up to about 1,000 m, and usually stays in the high treetops, given away by trailing chipping notes. The Slate-headed Tody-Flycatcher lives on both the Caribbean and Pacific sides and is fairly common in the southern Pacific region. Northern Bentbill and Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant are also tiny: the pygmy-tyrant has a hint of a crest, and a side view of the bill helps rule out the bentbill.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's official Spanish name is espatulilla común, also called espatulilla and mantequillilla. The name espatulilla means 'little spatula'.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, with a large and stable population.

Photography tips

Nests in gardens give good photo chances. One pair stood guard above a long hanging nest, and the entrance is at the side. Away from nests, watch low scrub for a bird fluttering out from a perch to catch insects.