Eye-ringed Flatbill

How to find it

Look for it perched upright in the mid-canopy, often with a mixed flock. It moves little, so a still, upright olive bird with a white eye-ring is the clue to watch for. Several tour reports list it among the birds moving through the forest in a flock, so scanning each flock slowly is a good way to find it. Learn the single rising whistle, because it can be hard to locate except by voice. Following army ant swarms in Costa Rica is another way it is known to be found.

How to recognise it

Look for these marks on a small, olive-green flycatcher about 15 to 17 cm long:

A bold white eye-ring, even in width all the way round.

A faint dark smudge below the eye.

A large-looking head and a wide, flat bill.

A dusky olive upper breast with pale streaks, lightly streaked overall.

A pale yellow belly.

Apart from the eye-ring, the plumage is plain and greenish-olive, so do not expect a boldly marked bird. The sexes look almost the same. Males have stiff comb-like barbs on the outer wing feathers (the primaries) and females do not, but that is a detail for a bird in the hand rather than one high in the canopy.

Behaviour and diet

This is a sluggish bird. It peers around from a perch in the upper understory and moves little. When it does act, it snatches prey from leaves and twigs with upward sallies, and it rarely catches insects in mid-air.

It usually forages alone, but it often joins mixed-species flocks. In Costa Rica it is known to visit army ant swarms.

The nest is a large hanging pear-shaped mass of rootlets, fibres and dead leaves. It hangs from the tip of a twig or vine, often over a small stream or open space, and the clutch is two eggs.

Where it lives

It lives in the upper understory and mid-levels of humid forest, at forest edges and in tall secondary growth, and it prefers shaded ravines. In Costa Rica it ranges from sea level up to about 2100 m, so it uses lowland and middle-elevation damp forest as well as cloud forest.

In Costa Rica it occurs in the east, on the Caribbean side. On the Pacific slope it occurs from west-central Costa Rica southward into Panama. It has also been photographed at Reserva Santa Elena in Guanacaste and in Puntarenas, in the southern Pacific region.

When to see it

Breeding is reported between March and June in Mexico and Costa Rica.

Similar birds

The Yellow-olive Flatbill (Piquiplano Azufrado) shares Costa Rican forests. It has a greyish crown, a pale throat and a bright yellow belly, and its voice is a repeated whistle, whereas the Eye-ringed gives single notes. The Yellow-winged Flatbill (Piquiplano Aliamarillo) also has a white eye-ring, but it is smaller, at 13 to 13.5 cm, with a mostly dark grey head and wide yellow edges on its wing feathers. Pacific and Olivaceous Flatbills look similar, but they live in northern South America and do not overlap with this species.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the bird is called Piquiplano de Anteojos. Other Spanish names are used elsewhere: mosquero de anteojos in Mexico, and picoplano de anteojos in Colombia and Panama.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list (AOCR, updated June 2026) marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Photography tips

Look for it in mixed flocks. Several tour reports list it among the birds in a flock moving through the forest, so scanning a flock is a good way to find it.