Spot-crowned Euphonia

How to find it

Start in the southern Pacific zone around San Vito, where it is a known local specialty. Fruit feeders are a good place to watch: a birder reported it as common at feeders there and hardly saw it elsewhere on that trip. The canopy tower at Las Cruces is another option, and it has been seen on the local club's bird walks. Look for pairs or small groups at low to mid levels. Fruiting mistletoe clumps are a good place to watch for euphonias. When you look up from below, check the female first for her rufous forecrown and belly.

How to recognise it

The male shows the usual euphonia pattern: steel blue upperparts and yellow underparts. His yellow cap is short, smaller than on the Yellow-crowned Euphonia. The small spots on the crown that give the species its name are very hard to see, so rely on the short cap. Males are the only euphonia with yellow spots on the crown.

The female is mostly green. Look for rufous patches on the forehead and on the belly, running down to the undertail. When you look up from below, that rufous forecrown and belly often make her the easier one to identify.

Behaviour and diet

It is usually seen in pairs or small groups. It feeds at all heights in the foliage, though mostly at low to mid levels, and eats fruit and insects, and possibly nectar. Its stomach suits eating mistletoe and other berries.

The nest is a dome with a side entrance, usually hidden in epiphytic plants on tree limbs or in nooks on steep banks.

Where it lives

Across its range it is mainly a lowland bird of humid forest, but it reaches about 1350 m elevation. Its natural habitats are moist lowland forest and heavily degraded former forest.

In Costa Rica it is a bird of the Pacific slope, from central Puntarenas and San José provinces south to the Panama border region. It is also listed among the local specialties of the southern Pacific highlands around San Vito.

When to see it

It breeds in Costa Rica from March to June and may raise two broods.

Similar birds

The male Yellow-crowned Euphonia also has a blue throat in the same pattern, but its yellow cap covers the whole front and top of the head and runs back past the eye, and its throat is black. The Spot-crowned male has a short yellow cap.

The female Spot-crowned looks much like the female Olive-backed Euphonia. The Olive-backed lives on the Caribbean side and the Spot-crowned on the Pacific side, so the range map settles it.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican Spanish lists give the AOCR name Eufonia Vientrirrojiza and the nickname Agüío Barranquillo. Other Spanish names in use include Eufonia vientrirroja and Fruterito de Coronita.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it R-END, a resident endemic; it is considered uncommon in Costa Rica, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Photography tips

Fruit feeders near San Vito give the best chance of a close look, since visitors have seen it there commonly. At the canopy tower, a female perched quite close. Watch fruiting mistletoe clumps, and when you look up from below, the female's rufous forecrown and belly are the easiest marks to pick out.