Since 2004 · Licensed by the Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)

Slaty-capped Flycatcher (Leptopogon superciliaris)
Photo: Richard Littauer, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist
Slaty-capped Flycatcher

Family Tyrannidae

Slaty-capped Flycatcher

Leptopogon superciliaris

In Spanish: Mosquerito Orejinegro

  • Resident

Grey-capped foothill flycatcher with a black ear patch, found on both slopes.

The Slaty-capped Flycatcher (Mosquerito Orejinegro) is a small forest flycatcher of Costa Rica's foothills, found on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes. It is listed as a resident species.

It often turns up with mixed-species feeding flocks, so listening for the flock is a good way to find it. Tapantí National Park and the forests around Turrialba are places where birders have met it.

How to find it

Look for singles or pairs in forest and at forest edges, usually not very high in the trees. Listen for its calls and check any mixed flock that passes. One birder drove slowly along the main road at Tapantí with the windows down, listening for this flycatcher and Spotted Woodcreeper to locate flocks. On a stay with a moth cloth, the best views went to people who stayed there until breakfast.

How to recognise it

This is a small flycatcher with a dark grey cap and a black crescent-shaped patch behind the eye. The face looks grizzled grey and white, there are two yellowish wing bars, and the back is olive. The underparts shade from a whitish throat and greenish-yellow breast to a yellow belly. The bill is long and heavy, black above and pinkish at the base below. A tour leader in Costa Rica pointed to the bill as the best mark, because its tip is bent as if damaged, unlike other small flycatchers. The dull yellow underparts are not distinctive, but the ear patch shows clearly in good views. Young birds have a more olive crown, a weaker face pattern, orange wing bars and paler underparts. The sexes look alike.

What it sounds like

0:19

Recording: Niels Krabbe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 5 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen alone or in pairs. It perches in the open and catches insects in flight or picks them from foliage, and it also eats berries often. While scanning for insects it flutters its wings or twitches its tail. It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks, and on trips a bird has been seen well with one, so it is worth checking flocks as they pass.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica and Panama it lives at about 500 to 1,600 m elevation. Across its range it is a bird of the understory in foothill and lower montane forest. In Costa Rica it occurs on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes. It is found in forest, secondary forest and coffee plantations, and in national parks and other protected areas.

When to see it

Nesting in Costa Rica continues through nearly the whole year, with June and July the busiest time.

Similar birds

The Sepia-capped Flycatcher is the closest look-alike, but its cap is brown instead of grey. The Slaty-capped also has buffy wingbars and a messy-looking head pattern.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Mosquerito orejinegro is the name used in Costa Rica. Other countries use different Spanish names, such as atrapamoscas sepia in Colombia, orejero gorripizarro in Ecuador and mosquerito gorripizarra in Panama.

Status and conservation

The official list of Costa Rican birds marks it R, a resident species, and it is rated Least Concern by the IUCN.

Photography tips

At Tapantí, driving slowly with the windows down and listening for its calls helped one birder locate the mixed flocks it travels with. Its habit of perching in the open helps once a flock is found.

How we know this 18 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Birds Colombia (quoting Wikipedia) read 2026-11-04https://birdscolombia.com/2020/08/06/atrapamoscas-orejinegro-slaty-capped-flycatcher-leptopogon-superciliaris/
  2. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaty-capped_flycatcher
  3. Earthlife.net read 2026-11-04https://earthlife.net/slaty-capped-flycatchers/
  4. Wikipedia (Spanish) read 2026-11-04https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leptopogon_superciliaris
  5. Cloudbridge Nature Reserve bird list read 2026-11-04https://www.cloudbridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Especies-de-Aves-Costa-Rica-13-April-2020.pdf
  6. Lista Oficial de las Aves de Costa Rica (AOCR) read 2026-11-04https://listaoficialavesdecostarica.wordpress.com/lista-oficial/lista-oficial-online/
  7. BirdLens (Cornell-style species summary) read 2026-11-04https://birdlens.secondwindltd.xyz/en/birds/91f0b0d169
  8. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica 2016 trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos16.html
  9. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica 2024 trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos24.html
  10. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica 2018 trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos18.html
  11. Birds for Beer read 2026-11-04https://birdsforbeer.com/2017/07/04/nesting-plain-xenops-and-slaty-capped-flycatcher/
  12. Avibase read 2026-11-04https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=16C172E1199F9F49
  13. Birdingcraft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/category/middle-elevations/page/2/
  14. Field Guides tour report 2015 read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos15.html
  15. Field Guides tour report 2023 read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos23bPRINT.html
  16. Quetzal by Car read 2026-11-04https://www.quetzalbycar.com/locations/el-copal-and-tapanti-np
  17. Birdingcraft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2011/05/23/recent-birding-at-tapanti-national-park/
  18. Peru Aves read 2026-11-04https://www.peruaves.org/tyrannidae/slaty-capped-flycatcher-leptopogon-superciliaris/