Northern Schiffornis

How to find it

Listen first. This is a low-density bird that is hard to see, so the whistled song in forest understory is your best lead. It is reported to respond to recorded calls. The Pacific slope is the better bet, since it is fairly common there. At Carara, a guide advises going as far back on the forest trails from park headquarters as you can, because humid forest birds are most common beyond the stream. Expect to work for it even at a good site.

How to recognise it

Look for a plain brown or olive-brown bird with these marks:

Paler underparts than the back.

Big dark eyes that give it a wide-eyed look.

A dark brownish olive face with a faint pale ring around the eye.

A small body, about 15.5 to 16.5 cm long.

Males and females look alike, so there is no plumage difference to learn. With so little colour to go on, the big eyes and the low forest setting do most of the work.

What it sounds like

Recording: Ben Meredyk, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Northern Schiffornis is usually solitary and forages low, mostly within 1 to 2 m of the ground. It perches low and often clings to an upright stem. It takes food from leaves and stems with short sallies from a perch, and it eats both fruit and arthropods. It is seldom seen with mixed-species flocks, so do not count on a busy feeding party to lead you to it. Expect a single quiet bird in the understory, and scan slowly once you hear the whistle.

Where it lives

It lives in the understory of humid to wet evergreen forest, almost always in the interior, and also in shaded secondary woodland. It rarely comes to the forest edge. In Costa Rica it is found from sea level up, reaching about 1,000 m on the Caribbean slope and about 1,700 m on the Pacific slope. It occurs on the Caribbean slope and on the Pacific slope, where it ranges from central Puntarenas Province southward.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from February to August.

Similar birds

Its plain brown look can be mistaken for other dull forest birds. Species in its group differ mainly by voice, so its song is the surest way to name it.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican Spanish name is Tordo-saltarín. Elsewhere it is called llorón de Verapaz in general, and saltarín café or flautín cabezón mesoamericano in Mexico. Older Costa Rican field guides and sites call it Thrush-like Schiffornis, a name that changed when the old species was split into five.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R): fairly common on the Pacific slope, fairly uncommon in the Caribbean foothills and very uncommon in the Caribbean lowlands.