Slaty Finch

How to find it

There is little you can do except listen for the very high-pitched song at bamboo seeding events. Also watch for dull birds feeding on the ground, at any high elevation site. Expect low views at the edge of seeding bamboo. A birder heard one on the road to Las Lagunillas on Poás while scouting seeding bamboo, where Peg-billed Finches were also abundant. A bamboo patch beside the road up to Volcán Barva, in a streamside zone, was named as another spot where seeding might draw it.

How to recognise it

The male is uniform slate grey, a little paler below. He has a pointed, straight-edged bill and is about 12 to 14 cm long.

The female is olive-brown above. Below she is brownish and lightly streaked, and she looks whitish on the belly.

There is no bold mark to lean on, so shape, bill and setting matter. One Costa Rica birding writer calls it an extra dull junco-like bird. Check any grey finch at seeding bamboo carefully, because other grey birds gather at the same patches.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

Adults travel alone or in small groups. They are found in brushy and grassy areas within humid forest, and they usually stay on or near the ground.

The species needs bamboo and specialises on the genus Chusquea. In a Costa Rican study, the finches were feeding on bamboo seeds near their nest site. A nest with eggs was found at Río Macho Forest Reserve in Cartago, with the eggs recorded on 19 April 2003.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives in evergreen wet forest and its edges. It also uses weedy clearings, secondary growth, bamboo thickets and wooded ravines.

In Costa Rica it is a highland bird of the Tilarán, Central Volcanic and Talamanca cordilleras. Native Costa Rican bamboo is thinner and daintier than the tall introduced Asian bamboo, and it mostly grows in highland forest, which is where the finch follows it.

When to see it

It is hard to time. It tends to show up only when native highland bamboo is seeding, which happens rarely, so it can come and go with these events and no fixed month is given.

Similar birds

Its only genus relative is the Uniform Finch. Peg-billed Finch and Slaty Flowerpiercer are other grey highland birds in Costa Rica, and both are regional endemics. Peg-billed Finch often turns up at the same seeding bamboo, so check any grey finch there carefully. Barred Parakeet also visits these patches.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Ricans use the AOCR name Fringilo Plomizo. In other countries it is called pinzón pizarroso (Honduras, Panama, Ecuador) and pinzón piquirecto (Nicaragua).

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and it is listed as Least Concern overall.

Photography tips

It usually stays on or near the ground and is seen alone or in pairs. Expect low views at the edge of seeding bamboo, and be ready for a dull bird that moves little.