Northern Bentbill

How to find it

Listen first. Guides often locate this bird by ear, and it can be hard to see. A tour group at one southern lowland lodge heard it several times, but it never showed itself, so patience matters. Look in understory tangles and forest edges rather than the open canopy. Keep an eye out for army ant activity, since the first bird on one Carara walk appeared just before a swarm was found. Learn the trill before you go, then scan low to mid levels for a very small bird with a pale eye.

How to recognise it

Start with the bill. It is short, fairly thick and curves downward, and it is the bird's best field mark.

Then check the eye. It is pale, which helps separate the bentbill from most other small flycatchers.

The rest is size. It is a tiny flycatcher, about 10 cm long, and weighs only about 4.5 to 7 grams, so think of something far smaller than most flycatchers you will have met. If you get a clear look at the head, the short, broad, downward-bent bill and the pale eye are the two things to check.

What it sounds like

Recording: Ryan F. Mandelbaum, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Northern Bentbill is a skulker. It keeps to shaded, cluttered growth and forages at low to mid levels, rather than in the open canopy.

It eats mostly insects and other invertebrates.

On one Carara walk, a group had several good looks at it, and the first bird appeared just before they found an army ant swarm. That is a useful reminder to watch the busy corners of the forest, not only the open stretches.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is common at the edges, in gaps and in the understory of humid forests, especially on the Pacific slope. It is considered common across most of the country, but uncommon on the Pacific side of the north.

Overall the species lives from sea level to about 1,500 m, but in Costa Rica it only reaches about 1,100 m. Across its range it seems to prefer fairly open forest, and it also uses dry forest, moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest.

When to see it

The breeding season is not well defined, but it seems to include April in both Costa Rica and El Salvador.

Similar birds

Most small flycatchers can be told apart by the bentbill's pale eye and short, broad, downward-bent bill. The Southern Bentbill is the only similar species. It lives in Panama and does not occur in Costa Rica, so within the country you do not have to separate the two.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Piquitorcido Norteño, and the AOCR list adds the nickname Brujita. Other countries use different names, such as mosquero piquidoblado in Honduras and picotorcido norteño in Nicaragua.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), it is considered common across most of Costa Rica, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Photography tips

This is a skulker of shaded, cluttered growth that forages at low to mid levels, so look in understory tangles and forest edges rather than the open canopy. Find it by ear first, then scan slowly at low height for the pale eye and downturned bill.