Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush

How to find it

Listen first, because this bird is often heard before it is seen. It can sing without stopping from a hidden perch in low, dense scrub. Check the edges of coffee plantations and secondary growth: one was recorded singing in Heredia at 7:20 am in April, at the edge of a coffee plantation. Watch the ground for a hopping bird, and scan low perches in thickets. Be patient and stay with the same patch of scrub. A heavy rainstorm once limited a group in a coffee plantation in the Carrizal district of Alajuela to a few birds, and this was one of them.

How to recognise it

Look first for colour: a bright orange bill, eye ring and legs. Against that, the upperparts are olive-brown and the belly is white.

Birds of the southern Pacific have a slate-grey crown and nape, with paler grey sides to the head. Birds of the southwest mountains belong to the russatus subspecies, while the costaricensis subspecies covers most of the rest of the country.

The orange legs are the quick check against look-alikes. Compared with the Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush, this species has an orange eye ring and upper bill, and its wings and tail are brighter, though its crown is not.

What it sounds like

Recording: Hersson Ramírez, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It feeds mostly on the ground for insects, spiders and other invertebrates, and it is often seen hopping there. It climbs to mid-height to take berries and seeds with fleshy coats. It may also flutter briefly to catch insects from leaves or in the air.

Adults are described as shy and cautious, and they live alone or in pairs. In Costa Rica nests are built from dry coarse material and moss. They sit low, up to 3 m, in shrubs, coffee plants, corn, fruit trees or hedges near dense cover.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it ranges from about 500 to 2,200 m. It lives in dense undergrowth along forest edges, in secondary woodland and in disturbed places such as coffee plantations, and it is locally common in lower montane areas.

It is common on the Pacific side of the Central Volcanic and Tilaran ranges, including the Central Valley. Breeding is reported between 400 and 1500 m. A report from Braulio Carrillo National Park exists, but it may be a stray bird.

When to see it

Breeding season in Costa Rica runs from March to August.

Similar birds

The Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush is the closest match. It has orange only on the lower bill, dark legs and a rufous top and back of the head, and it usually lives at higher elevations. The Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush has a dark bill, dark legs and a brownish breast band.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans know this bird as Inglesito or Jilguerito. The AOCR name is Zorzal Piquianaranjado, and a Costa Rican photo caption also calls it Jilguerillo de Charral.

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as a resident (R), it is fairly common in Costa Rica, and the IUCN rates it Least Concern with no immediate threats identified.

Photography tips

Stay with one thicket edge at a coffee farm and watch the ground and low perches. A bird that sings without stopping from a hidden perch may eventually hop into view.