Olive Sparrow

How to find it

Listen first, because the speeding chip song will usually tell you the bird is there long before you see it. Then scan low, brushy edges for it. Look in forest strips along rivers and in dry or gallery forest. Watch the ground and dense tangles for a small bird pushing leaves aside with its bill. Singing males sometimes perch higher in the understory, so check above eye level too.

How to recognise it

This is a small sparrow with a plain olive back and tail.

Look for these marks:

- two dull brown stripes on the crown

- a brown streak through the eye

- a paler belly with a few white feathers

- a cone-shaped bill

Costa Rican adults have a grayish buff head with broad blackish brown stripes, and the olive back has a gray tint. Males and females look alike. Young birds are duller than adults, browner above with faint streaks, and they show dark streaking on the breast and flanks. The striped head combined with a plain, uniform back is enough to identify it in Costa Rica.

What it sounds like

Recording: marcelodelagarza, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The Olive Sparrow forages alone or in pairs, eating seeds and insects. It hops on the ground or through dense tangles, pushing leaves aside with its bill to find insects, small spiders and seeds in the leaf litter. It only rarely scratches.

It stays low in thick cover, which is why it is hard to spot. Males, however, sing from the upper part of the understory and sometimes from the lower canopy, so a singing bird is not always hidden at ground level.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives at the edges and in the understory of forest, and in nearby secondary forest. It is most often found along forested river courses, in dry forest and in gallery forest.

It is a common resident of Pacific lowlands and foothills, from northern Guanacaste south to the Tárcoles River and through the Central Valley, at least to Grecia and Santa Ana. It occurs from sea level to about 800 to 900 m.

When to see it

In Costa Rica the breeding season runs from April to July. The nest is a domed ball of rootlets and grass with a side entrance, and the clutch is 2 or 3 white eggs laid in those months.

Similar birds

In Costa Rica it is the only sparrow living inside dry forest, and its striped head with a plain, uniform back sets it apart. Beyond Costa Rica it can be mistaken for the Green-tailed Towhee, but the Olive Sparrow is smaller and lacks that bird's rusty cap.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR list gives the Spanish name Pinzón Aceitunado, with the local nickname Timbón in brackets.

Status and conservation

The official AOCR list (2025-2026, updated June 2026) gives it as a resident (R), and the IUCN rates it Least Concern, with a stable population, and it is considered common in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Listen for the song first, then scan low, brushy edges for the bird. It likes to stay close to the ground in thick cover, so patience helps. A singing male may offer a clearer view from the upper understory.