Palm Warbler

How to find it

Look in open, low places such as lawns, gardens, beach scrub and the edges of wet areas, and scan the ground as well as the branches. A tail that bobs nonstop is the first clue to follow. The La Fortuna bird was first noticed by a dry chip note when the observer pished, and was then seen flying up from the ground. Listen for that note. Check for the yellowish rump and undertail coverts when it flies. Few of these birds can be chased, so treat any sighting as a happy surprise.

How to recognise it

Palm Warblers are small, with adults about 12 to 14 cm long, and drab overall.

The most striking marks are a yellowish rump and yellowish undertail coverts. Look for both when the bird flits away from you.

In fall and winter the crown is dark, the underparts are whitish with yellow flanks, and the eyebrow stripe is pale brown. Breeding adults look quite different, with a chestnut cap and a yellow eyebrow, throat and breast.

Two forms exist. The Western form is paler and drabber, with whitish underparts and fine brown streaks. The Eastern form has fully yellow underparts and broader chestnut streaks.

What it sounds like

Recording: Guy Babineau, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

The habit that gives the bird away is the tail. Palm Warblers bob their tails constantly, and this is a good clue to identification. They spend much time on the ground or in very low plants.

They feed on the ground more than most warblers and sometimes fly up to catch insects. In Costa Rica, a bird found in La Fortuna fed on the ground and then flew up into the trees, wagging its tail as it went.

Where it lives

A Costa Rican field guide lists the habitat as open beach scrub, gardens, lawns and nearby scrubby woodland. Across its winter range the species uses open habitats and is seen mostly along marshes and wet areas, usually feeding on the ground.

Records here come from Cerro de la Muerte, a high mountain area, and from the Turrialba area and La Fortuna. On its northern breeding grounds it nests in boreal bogs and fens, far from Costa Rica.

When to see it

Records from the Turrialba area date from January and February of 2016, and a bird was photographed at Cerro de la Muerte in March 2016.

Similar birds

Kirtland's, Prairie and Palm Warblers are the only Setophaga warblers that bob their tails nonstop, which makes the Prairie Warbler (Reinita Galana) the closest lookalike for this habit. A Spanish source notes that a perched Prairie Warbler also wags its tail quickly. Use the call, the yellowish rump and undertail coverts, and the drab overall look to separate them.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the bird is called Reinita Coronicastaña. Other countries use different Spanish names, such as reinita palmera in Colombia, reinita coronirrufa in Nicaragua and reinita del palmar in Panama.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list gives the Palm Warbler the status M, a migrant that does not breed in the country, and the IUCN rates the species Least Concern.

Photography tips

Start with sound. The La Fortuna bird was first noticed by a dry chip note when the observer pished, and was then seen flying up from the ground and wagging its tail. Watch low ground at the edge of trees, where the bird may fly up and show its tail bobbing.