Rufous-browed Tyrannulet

How to find it

Check the canopy flocks of mixed species in humid foothill and montane forest, since single birds or pairs often travel with them. Look up rather than into the understory. Learn its voice, because on one trip a guide heard it first and then found it for the group. Tanager flocks have produced it at Tapantí National Park. Expect to need patience, as one group got only brief looks on a high-elevation road. Even a busy mid-morning can bring one, as a drive through middle elevation forest near Varablanca showed at about 1,000 m.

How to recognise it

This is a very small bird, about 12 cm long, so the head pattern is the place to start.

Look for these marks:

- a gray crown and nape

- a thin rufous eyebrow

- pale cheeks edged in black

- a blackish bill

- a greenish-gray back

- no clear wing bars

Because it stays in the canopy, you will usually see it from below through leaves. The whitish cheeks outlined in black and the gray cap are often easier to pick out than the thin eyebrow that gives the bird its name. It is the only Phylloscartes in Central America, so the combination of gray cap, rufous brow and outlined cheeks points to this species.

Behaviour and diet

The Rufous-browed Tyrannulet stays in the forest canopy. It is seen alone, in pairs or in small family groups, and it often joins mixed-species flocks.

It eats insects and some small fruits.

Because it travels with flocks, it can appear briefly among many other birds and then move on. Scan each wave of activity carefully rather than waiting for it to sit still.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives between about 500 and 1,300 m elevation and prefers humid montane forest. Across its whole range the species uses humid montane forest between roughly 600 and 2000 m.

The Costa Rican subspecies lives in the forested mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama. Records here come from the Caribbean foothills, from middle elevation forest near Varablanca and from forest in the buffer zone of the Alberto Manuel Brenes Biological Reserve.

When to see it

It is thought to breed in Costa Rica from March to May or June, and nothing else is known about its breeding. It is classed as a year-round resident, found in any season.

Similar birds

The look-alike is the Mottle-cheeked Tyrannulet. Tell the Rufous-browed apart by its gray crown and nape, its rufous eyebrow and its whitish cheeks outlined in black.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica and Panama the bird is called Mosquerito Cejirrufo. Other countries use different Spanish names, such as Tiranuelo de Visera in Colombia and Moscareta de Ceja Rufa in Peru.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though it is quite uncommon in Costa Rica.

Photography tips

Patience matters more than gear. Brief looks are common, so watch the canopy flocks and let a guide's ear lead you to the bird. Expect to see it from below, and concentrate on the head pattern when it appears.