Dusky-faced Tanager

How to find it

Look in dense undergrowth along humid forest edges and forest streams, and listen for chattering groups, since they hide in foliage. Watch for low, moving groups in the understory rather than scanning the canopy. A tour group saw a group of 4 moving low through the undergrowth at La Selva. Fruiting trees are worth checking, as birders have found them near them. Parking areas beside forest can pay off too: at the Quebrada González ranger station in Braulio Carrillo, one birder found them close by in the parking lot, then watched more in the forest and heard others in nearby undergrowth.

How to recognise it

Adults have a mustard yellow crown and a mustard yellow nape. A big black mask covers the face.

The upperparts are lead gray. The throat is light gray, fading to olive yellow on the breast and flanks.

Another description stresses the pale eye, the black face and upperparts, and a dingy yellow chest and belly. The overall look is somewhat like a blackbird (icterid), a useful impression when a dark, low bird flicks into view.

When a bird steps out of the foliage, look for the black mask set against the yellow crown.

What it sounds like

Recording: Michael Bakker Paiva, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This is a sociable bird that often chatters. Small groups of 4 to 12 birds are usual, and the species likes to hide in foliage, so it can be hard to see well.

It stays almost always low and under cover in thick vegetation. It forages by pecking and rummaging, and it often flicks its wings and tail.

It eats mostly fruit, plus some insects and seeds. Birders have found it chattering from the undergrowth, busily foraging, near fruiting trees, and in mixed flocks with Emerald, Tawny-crested and Olive tanagers.

Where it lives

It lives in low dense shrubbery, thickets and second growth. It also uses forest edges, forest gaps, streamsides and swampy areas.

In Costa Rica it mostly stays below 300 m, though it has been found as high as 600 m.

The Costa Rican form lives in the Caribbean lowlands, starting in Heredia Province and continuing south to northwest Panama. Records come from the Sarapiquí area and from Braulio Carrillo National Park.

When to see it

Birds breeding or ready to breed have been recorded between March and May in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia.

Similar birds

The blackbird-like look can confuse at first glance. The pale eye, the black face and upperparts, and the dingy yellow chest and belly are the marks to check. The mustard yellow crown against the black mask is the quickest way to settle it.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, Panama and Ecuador the Spanish name is Tangara Carinegruzca. In Colombia people call it maraquera carisucia. Another Spanish name is frutero de cara oscura.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, with a wide range, a stable population and occurrence in several protected areas.

Photography tips

Because it stays almost always low and under cover, start where cover meets open ground. Streamsides are strongly preferred, so check edges with shrubby undergrowth. Watch for the wing and tail flicks that give a moving bird away. Roadsides and entrance roads at La Selva have offered birds a few feet off the ground.