Olive-backed Euphonia

How to find it

Check fruiting trees and busy flocks in the forest canopy, since it often travels in small groups or joins mixed-species feeding flocks. Learn the metallic chrrr-chrrr call before you go, because you will probably hear it before you see it. Look at forest edges, openings and tall second growth as well as inside the forest. In the Caribbean foothills, banana feeders have given birders good views. Stand where you can look into the canopy and give a flock time to move through.

How to recognise it

This is a tiny bird, about 9.5 cm long and 12 g, so think of a small green jewel high in the leaves.

Both sexes are deep green with rufous on the rear underparts. Males have a small yellow forecrown. Females have a rufous forecrown instead.

Females also have duller upperparts than males, yellow underparts and only a small rufous belly patch. Immatures are darker and duller, with olive underparts.

In Costa Rica the male is olive-coloured, while most other male euphonias here are blue-black and yellow, so he is easy to separate. Females of the genus are all yellowish green, which makes them hard to identify.

What it sounds like

Recording: Florencia Grattarola, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It forages mostly at middle to upper forest levels, sometimes visits edges or the understory, and will feed at any level. It is usually seen in pairs or small groups and often joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

The nest is a ball with a side entrance, made of fine roots and moss. It sits 2 to 15 m up among moss or epiphytes. The clutch is three white eggs with brown marks.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it is a common resident of the Caribbean lowlands, up to about 750 m on the foothills. In the southeast it sometimes reaches 1,000 m.

It uses the canopy and middle levels of humid forest. It comes down to forest edges, openings, tall second growth and clearings with scattered trees and shrubs.

It also reaches west across the north to eastern Guanacaste, where it is local on the Pacific slope.

When to see it

It stays in Costa Rica all year and breeds from February to July.

Similar birds

Other Costa Rican euphonias with rufous or yellow on the forecrown can be confused with it. The female Spot-crowned Euphonia also has a rufous forehead patch and yellowish underparts. The male is the easier sex to separate, because the olive male stands apart from the blue-black and yellow males of other euphonias.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans use the Spanish name Eufonia Olivácea, and the AOCR list also gives the local nicknames Agüío, Barranquillo, Culo Rojo and Güere. Other Spanish names are Fruterito Selvático and Monjita olivácea. The scientific name honours the English naturalist John Gould.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), the IUCN rates it Least Concern, and it is considered common in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Because it feeds high in the canopy, fruiting trees and mixed flocks are the best places to wait. Banana feeders in the Caribbean foothills have offered closer views than the forest canopy.