Townsend's Warbler

How to find it

Start with forest edges, clearings and secondary growth in the highlands, where it is recorded here. It forages high in trees, so views can be hard. A steep trail or road cut with an eye-level view of the canopy usually gives the best looks. Winter birds are easier to see than breeding ones, since they use almost any well-vegetated habitat and may feed in shorter trees and shrubs. Check mixed flocks, especially those with Black-throated Green Warbler.

How to recognise it

Adult males show a black ear patch ringed by yellow, so the face pattern is strong: bright yellow around a dark cheek. Look for these marks:

- a black throat and cap

- a yellow crescent under the eye

- thick white wingbars

- a green back

- a yellow chest

- streaked sides

Females and young birds are less boldly marked. Their black markings are paler and the throat is mostly yellow, so the face looks softer than the male's. For a beginner, the dark cheek framed in yellow is the one feature to hold on to while the bird moves through the foliage.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

In Costa Rica it is usually alone, but it sometimes joins mixed flocks of warblers, especially with Black-throated Green Warbler, and other small birds. It actively searches foliage at all heights for small insects and caterpillars. It sometimes hovers to pick prey from leaf undersides and also catches insects in flight.

On winter grounds this warbler often feeds low, close to the ground or on it, which can give easier views than the treetop foraging of breeding birds.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it uses disturbed forest, forest edges, secondary growth and clearings. Across Middle America, wintering birds are usually in mountain forests mixing oak and conifers, from middle elevations up to cloud forest. The species winters in highland zones from Mexico through Central America.

Within Costa Rica, photos come from the Monteverde cloud forest (Curi Cancha reserve, Puntarenas) and from San Ramón in Alajuela.

When to see it

It is a migrant and winter resident in Costa Rica, present from late September to early April.

Similar birds

Hermit Warbler is the closest lookalike, and the two species hybridize where their ranges overlap, so some birds show a mix of features. Blackburnian Warbler and Black-throated Green Warbler both look somewhat like Townsend's Warbler, and its song can resemble that of the Black-throated Green.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rica and Panama call it Reinita de Townsend. Mexico uses names such as chipe de Townsend and chipe negriamarillo, and Nicaragua calls it reinita bicolor.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a migrant (M), and it is rated Least Concern overall.

Photography tips

Winter birds often feed low, close to the ground or on it, which can give easier views than treetop foraging. A steep trail or road cut with an eye-level view of the canopy also gives good chances.