White-faced Storm-Petrel

How to find it

It is hard to see from land, and a boat at sea is the way to find it. Elsewhere in its range, pelagic boat trips find it by following ships and drawing it in with chum, such as fish scraps or oil. Watch for the low, bounding flight and the feet touching the water. Because it is silent, scanning the waves is more useful than listening. No Costa Rican source says how to find it here, so treat any sighting as a bonus.

How to recognise it

Look first at the head. It is white with a dark cap and a dark eye patch, a mask often compared to a phalarope's. Another description gives a dark crown and a dark line behind the eye, split by a white eyebrow.

The upperparts are brown with blackish flight feathers. The underparts are white, so the underside looks very pale. In flight its long thin legs reach past the tail.

It is a small seabird, about 19 to 21 cm long, with a wingspan of 41 to 44 cm.

These marks describe the species across its range, not Costa Rican birds specifically.

Behaviour and diet

At sea it is often noticed by its low, bounding flight. It pushes off the water surface with its feet, a pogo-stick style of movement that birders enjoy. The same habit has earned it the nickname "Jesus bird", because it seems to walk on the sea as it bounces over the surface.

It eats mostly small crustaceans, plankton and small fish, and it picks plankton from the surface while tapping the water with its feet. These are habits of the species across its range, not specific to Costa Rica.

Where it lives

It is an open-ocean seabird. Worldwide it nests in colonies in rock crevices on oceanic islands, and outside the breeding season it is strictly pelagic.

In Costa Rica, studies of seabirds are limited and have mostly been done along the coasts and at Isla del Coco National Park. Most records of ocean birds from the late 20th and early 21st centuries come from the Pacific side, where seabirds are said to visit the coast while following their migration routes or tropical storms. There is little local information on exactly where this species occurs.

Similar birds

The White-throated Storm-Petrel is much larger. Hornby's (Ringed) Storm-Petrel is the closer match and has completely dark underwings. The White-faced shows white underwing lining, a square tail, a broken breast band and a stockier build.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The official Spanish name is Paiño Pechialbo, and other Spanish sources also call it Paíño de pecho blanco. Birders elsewhere sometimes call it the "Jesus bird", a nickname not specific to Costa Rica.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican list (AOCR) for 2025-2026 gives it the status M-SC, read as a migrant, though another list marks it as accidental.

Photography tips

It is strictly pelagic outside the breeding season and hard to see from land, so a boat at sea is the way to find it. Look for the low, bounding flight, the long legs trailing past the tail and the white face with its dark mask.