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Tawny-chested Flycatcher (Aphanotriccus capitalis)Tawny-chested Flycatcher

Family Tyrannidae

Tawny-chested Flycatcher

Aphanotriccus capitalis

In Spanish: Mosquerito Pechileonado

  • Resident
  • Regional endemic

Rare little flycatcher of the northeastern Caribbean slope

Where to see itTrips that find it

The Tawny-chested Flycatcher (Mosquerito Pechileonado) is a small flycatcher with an ochre-orange chest and a yellow belly. Today its population is largely confined to Costa Rica, on the Caribbean slope of the northeast.

It is very uncommon and local, so it rewards patience. On a trip we build, guests look for it on slow walks along quiet forest trails and edges near Turrialba and in the Sarapiquí area.

Where to see it

How to find it

Take slow walks along quiet forest roads, streams and edges within its range. Listen for song and watch low perches. Researchers found every recent nest along a quiet gravel road through forest. Guides describe it as not easy to see, and one group's guide heard the bird first and then found it for them.

How to recognise it

This is a small flycatcher, about 12 cm long, with a dark grey head and a broken white eye-ring. The chest is ochre-orange and fades into a fairly bright yellow belly, and there are two ochre wing-bars. Males and females look alike, though the female's grey head has an olive tinge. The bill is black above and pinkish below with a black tip, and the legs are grey. Its bright underparts are the quickest way to tell it from the plainer flycatchers around it.

Behaviour and diet

It follows a regular route through low, dense vegetation and is usually alone or in pairs. It makes upward sallies to pick insects such as beetles, homopterans and ants from the undersides of leaves and branches. Near Arenal, adults were also seen catching insects from a powerline and from vegetation above a gravel road. Nests in Costa Rica have been in tree crevices, hollows and bromeliad bases, 0.4 to 5.9 m above ground.

Where it lives

It lives in humid mature secondary forest and prefers forest edges, natural clearings and the edges of small streams. There are also records from cacao plantations. In Costa Rica it is found from the lowlands to about 800 m, and locally reaches 1000 m on the northeast side of the Cordillera de Guanacaste. It is now known only from the Caribbean slope of the northeast, from Alajuela Province south to central Limón Province. It is usually not found in small forest remnants.

When to see it

It is a non-migratory year-round resident. Birders have found it on trips in both March and July.

Similar birds

It resembles an Empidonax flycatcher in size and shape but is much more colourful. It also lacks the yellowish rump of the Myiobius flycatchers.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica it is called Mosquerito Pechileonado. Other Spanish names are mosquero pechileonado, used more widely, and mosquero de pecho castaño.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives it as a resident regional endemic (R-END), and the IUCN rates it Vulnerable.

Photography tips

Watch low perches along quiet forest edges and streams, and listen for song to locate it. Early morning visits to a moth sheet have given some birders close views.

Trips that find it

Tell us when you are travelling and our team in Costa Rica builds the trip around the birds you want to see.

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How we know this 18 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. BirdLife DataZone read 2026-11-04https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tawny-chested-flycatcher-aphanotriccus-capitalis/text
  2. Earthlife.net read 2026-11-04https://earthlife.net/tawny-chested-flycatchers/
  3. Flickr (Costa Rican natural history account, Spanish) read 2026-11-04https://www.flickr.com/photos/jobando/41120903905
  4. Beauty of Birds read 2026-11-04https://beautyofbirds.com/tawnychestedflycatchers/
  5. Research Square preprint read 2026-11-04https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-10770542/v1
  6. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny-chested_flycatcher
  7. Wikipedia (Spanish) read 2026-11-04https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphanotriccus_capitalis
  8. EcoRegistros read 2026-11-04https://www.ecoregistros.org/ficha/Aphanotriccus-capitalis
  9. Lista Oficial de las Aves de Costa Rica (AOCR) read 2026-11-04https://listaoficialavesdecostarica.wordpress.com/lista-oficial/lista-oficial-online/
  10. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica trip list read 2026-11-04http://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos12.html
  11. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica 2016 read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos16.html
  12. Tica Birding Adventure blog read 2026-11-04http://ticabirdingadventure.blogspot.com/2017/12/costa-rica-birding-challenge-at-rancho.html
  13. Tica Birding Adventure blog read 2026-11-04http://ticabirdingadventure.blogspot.com/2018/05/top-10-my-favorite-species-during-my.html
  14. CRS Tours read 2026-11-04https://crstours.com/packages/birdwatching/discovering-the-avifauna-of-costa-rica/
  15. Field Guides Birding Tours, Costa Rica 2024 read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos24.html
  16. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2023/04/07/highlights-of-recent-back-road-birding-in-costa-rica/
  17. WINGS Birding Tours read 2026-11-04https://wingsbirds.com/tours/costa-rica-july#narratives
  18. CRS Tours read 2026-11-04https://crstours.com/costa-rica-birdwatching-tours/