Scaly-throated Leaftosser

How to find it

Listen first. In tropical forest most birds are first detected by call, and dense foliage and fallen trunks make seeing them hard, so listening matters for this secretive ground bird. Look for movement or crunching leaves, as it may be scratching on the forest floor. A Costa Rica birding guide lists it among birds worth watching for in mixed flocks, so keep an eye on passing flocks too. Check vertical banks beside streams or trails, and clay between the roots of fallen trees, where it may nest.

How to recognise it

Look for a plain dark brown bird about 17 cm long, with a long thin bill and a short tail.

The upperparts are a rich dark brown. The breast is mottled reddish brown. The whitish throat looks scaly because each feather has a dark edge. Males and females look alike.

In Costa Rica it is the only leaftosser with a patterned throat and no chestnut on the rump, which separates it from the other two leaftossers. Young birds have a buffy throat with heavy or blurry dark scaling and a more ochre breast, so they look less crisp than adults.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

This is a noisy forager for such a secretive bird. It hops on the ground and crouches with its legs bent and its tail braced against the floor. It flings leaves quickly to each side with its bill and flicks its wings nervously as it works. It forages alone.

It nests in a burrow dug in a dirt bank or in the roots of a fallen tree. In Costa Rica the nest is a shallow cup at the end of a curved burrow 50 to 80 cm long, holding 2 white eggs.

Where it lives

It lives on or near the ground inside humid lowland forest, mostly below 800 m. In Costa Rica it occupies the humid lowlands and foothills up to 800 m on the Caribbean slope, and locally up to 1000 m. It likes mature wet forest with a sparse understory.

It also occurs on the Pacific slope of the southwest. It barely reaches the Pacific side elsewhere, getting there through low passes in the northern mountain ranges and in the south of the Pacific slope.

When to see it

Nesting in Costa Rica is recorded in May, October and December.

Similar birds

Tawny-throated Leaftosser looks similar, but it has a rufous rump. The Scaly-throated lacks the rufous rump and has the scaled whitish throat. Grey-throated Leaftosser has a white or pale grey throat against a chestnut breast. It lives higher, mainly 1000 to 2000 m in the Costa Rican foothills, while the Scaly-throated stays in the lowlands.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Tirahojas Barbiescamado is the Costa Rican and Nicaraguan name. Elsewhere in its range you may meet tirahojas guatemalteco, tirahojas cuelliescamado in Honduras, and hojarasquero oscuro in Mexico.

Status and conservation

On the AOCR list it is a resident (R), uncommon in Costa Rica, and the IUCN rates the species Least Concern.

Photography tips

Look for mature wet forest with a sparse understory. Check vertical banks beside streams or trails, and clay between the roots of fallen trees, where it nests. Stand still and let the forest settle, then watch for crunching leaves.