Grassland Yellow-Finch

How to find it

Look for open short-grass fields in Guanacaste. Watch the fence tops and shrubs, where it perches. A birding tour of Guanacaste works the rice fields, ponds, marshes and country roads around Palo Verde, and that open farmland is the kind of country where grassland birds are found. Listen for the two-note flight call, which can reveal a flock before you see it. Do not expect it around houses, where it is not often seen.

How to recognise it

Males are bright yellow below, with a yellow rump and olive-yellow upperparts. The crown and nape are streaked dark, and there is yellow around the eye.

Length is about 12 cm, so think of a small finch rather than anything bulky.

Females are paler brown above with dark streaks, and dull yellow below. They are less colourful than males, so a mixed flock can look like a scatter of bright yellow and soft streaky brown.

A yellow finch in open grassland rather than around houses points to this species.

What it sounds like

Recording: Pablo H Capovilla, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is often seen in large flocks that seem nomadic. It forages on the ground and perches on shrubs and fences, so scanning fence lines pays off.

When flocks move, they can fly in tight groups. At night, groups often roost together in dense stands of tall cane or bamboo grass, called tacuarales in South America.

Where it lives

It lives in open grassland, fields, farmland and the edges of marshes, and it also uses cultivated land and wetlands. Across its whole range it mostly occurs up to about 3000 m elevation.

The tropical populations of Mexico, Central America and Venezuela use areas of short grass. In Costa Rica the subspecies eisenmanni lives on the Pacific slope of the northwest, in Guanacaste, and it also occurs in central Panama.

Similar birds

The look-alike relative is the Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola), called chirigüe azafranado in Spanish. The Saffron Finch is the one often seen near houses, while the Grassland Yellow-Finch is not usually found there. Where you stand is a useful clue: open fields point to the Grassland Yellow-Finch.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is chirigüe sabanero, and the AOCR spelling drops the dieresis: Chirigue Sabanero. A names table lists the Huetar form 'Chirigüé' for Costa Rica, an indigenous-language root of the name. Elsewhere it is called misto in Argentina, zacatero amarillo in Mexico and chirihue in Chile.

Status and conservation

It is category A on the AOCR list and Least Concern globally, with a very large range and a very large population.

Photography tips

Fence tops and shrubs are where it perches, so work the edges of open short-grass fields and wait for birds to settle there. Listen for the two-note flight call to find a flock before it lands.