White-crowned Sparrow

How to find it

There is no reliable place to look, since this is a one-time vagrant. The one place a visitor has met it is Wafer Bay in Isla del Coco National Park, where park rangers saw it. If you ever visit that park, scan the ground and low vegetation, where the species forages elsewhere. Check the head pattern first, then the bill color and whether the throat is plain. Listen for the sharp, metallic "pink" call. If you find a rare striped-headed sparrow, photograph it for documentation.

How to recognise it

Across its range, adults show:

- bold black and white stripes on the crown

- a gray face

- streaked brown upperparts

- clear pearly gray underparts

- a pink or yellowish bill

Young birds have buff and brown crown stripes instead of the black and white. Costa Rican press described the island bird as no longer than 18 cm, with a long tail.

It looks more slender and stands more upright than the White-throated Sparrow, and it lacks that bird's white throat patch and yellow lores. Most of these details describe the species in general, not a Costa Rican population.

What it sounds like

Recording: rudyard, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

Across its range it forages on the ground or in low vegetation. It eats mainly seeds, other plant parts and insects, and in winter it often feeds in flocks. It is described as a fairly friendly sparrow that scratches at ground litter with both feet and, when flushed, perches up in small trees or shrubs. These habits describe the species in general, not birds in Costa Rica, where only one lone adult has been documented.

Where it lives

Range-wide, it nests in dense brush, especially near open grassland. In winter it uses open woods and gardens. Some populations move south in winter to the southern United States and sometimes central Mexico.

In Costa Rica it has no home range. The only place it has been met is Wafer Bay, in Isla del Coco National Park, the Pacific island park far offshore. No mainland site is known.

When to see it

The only dated Costa Rican record is a single adult seen on 15 May 2018, in late spring. No regular season is known for the species in the country.

Similar birds

The Rufous-collared Sparrow is the resident Costa Rican Zonotrichia. It is reddish with a plain head, unlike the white-striped head of this visitor. The White-throated Sparrow looks similar but has a white throat patch and yellow lores.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Costa Rican Spanish name is Chingolo Coroniblanco. Costa Rican press covering the island sighting also called it gorrión corona blanca or gorrión coroniblanco. It has no known local nickname. The folk names comemaíz and pirrís belong to the Rufous-collared Sparrow, the resident Zonotrichia.

Status and conservation

Listed as A (accidental) on the AOCR list, with the first Costa Rican record accepted in the 2018 update.

Photography tips

The rangers who found the Costa Rican bird photographed it, and the photo helped the rare bird committee accept the record. Anyone who finds a rare sparrow should photograph it for documentation, with the head pattern, bill and throat clearly in frame.