Rose-throated Becard

How to find it

It is easy to overlook because it often forages high in the forest canopy, so scan the treetops at forest edges. The large hanging nest is often the first clue. A guide reports that whistling like a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl often brings in a pair of these becards. He has tried it in dry forest riparian zones, at Carara headquarters and at the University of Peace. The Carara National Park headquarters parking lot is described as a great place to see this common becard, and the drier secondary growth of the Universal Trail there gave several.

How to recognise it

Start with the shape: a stocky bird with a large head and a strong, heavy bill. Across its range it is about 16.5 cm long and weighs about 33 g.

Costa Rican males:

- glossy black crown

- slate-grey body

- heavy bill

- rose throat patch very faint or absent

Costa Rican females:

- dark grey to blackish cap

- buffy underparts

- ochre tint on the chest, cheeks and sides of the neck

- black bill

Range-wide, female plumage is mostly brown with rusty upperparts and light buff underparts.

What it sounds like

Recording: Court Harding, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

In Costa Rica this becard catches insects, especially caterpillars, by flying out and striking foliage, and it sometimes takes insects in flight. Across its range it sits quietly in the canopy hunting insects and small fruits.

Becards usually occur alone or in pairs. Outside the breeding season they often join mixed flocks with warblers and other birds.

The nest is a very large, bulky dome or bell with an entrance at or near the base. It hangs from the tip of a thin drooping branch, often over water. In Costa Rica, breeding is reported from April to June.

Where it lives

Across its range the species uses tropical dry forest, rainforest patches, riverside forest and regrowth. It also uses lower cloud forest, parks and pine-oak woodland, and it favours woodland edges and open forest.

In Costa Rica the resident birds live on the Pacific side. A Spanish-language account calls it common in the northern Pacific lowlands, including the Nicoya Peninsula, with a range running south to near Orotina. A resident birder describes it as fairly common in the northwest, and a rarity around Turrialba, where he has seen it only twice.

When to see it

A few northern birds winter in or pass through the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, but they are rare there. The resident birds live on the Pacific side.

Similar birds

The look-alike is the Cinnamon Becard, which is a bit smaller and rufous. It lives along rivers, in second growth and at forest edge, is fairly common in Pacific mangroves and is the common becard on the Caribbean slope. At CATIE, a female Rose-throated was told apart from the far more common Cinnamon by her grey cap. Do not count on a pink throat when identifying it here.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Cabezón Plomizo is the name used in Costa Rica and Panama. Other countries use other Spanish names: cabezón degollado in Mexico, cabezón gorgirrosado in Nicaragua and cabezón cuellirosado in Honduras.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists the species as Least Concern.

Photography tips

A guide says the best way to bring birds into view is to whistle like a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl, and a pair of becards will probably show up. Scan the canopy at forest edges first.