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White-winged Becard (Pachyramphus polychopterus)
Photo: er-birds, CC BY 4.0, via iNaturalist
White-winged Becard

Family Tityridae

White-winged Becard

Pachyramphus polychopterus

In Spanish: Cabezón Aliblanco

  • Resident

A black-and-gray becard of lowland forest edges and mixed flocks.

The White-winged Becard, Cabezón Aliblanco, is a common resident of the lowlands on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica. A birding guide calls it one of the two most common becards in the country.

It is easy to overlook. It forages high in the trees, and its plaintive calls are easy to miss until you learn them. On a trip we build, mixed flocks at Carara National Park are a good place to look for it.

How to find it

Look along forest edges, in semi-open areas and in gardens in the humid lowlands, where it is most common. Mixed-species flocks are a good place to search, and tour groups have picked it out of flocks at Carara and on the Caribbean foothills. Expect to look up, since it forages high in the trees. It can also be heard without being seen, so learning the song helps.

How to recognise it

The male is glossy black above, with broad white edges on the wing coverts that form two wing bars. He is slate gray below, with white speckles on the belly in Costa Rican birds, and his long tail has white tips. The female looks very different: olive-green above with blackish wings and tail, cinnamon-buff wing edges and tail tips, and pale yellow underparts. She can be mistaken for a flycatcher. The species is about 14 cm long. The Spanish name cabezón means big-headed, and refers to the becard's large, flattish head.

What it sounds like

0:09

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

Behaviour and diet

It forages alone or in pairs, from mid-level to high in the trees, and has been seen up into the upper canopy. It takes caterpillars, beetles, leafhoppers and spiders from foliage, and eats many small berries. It joins mixed flocks, but only loosely. The female builds a globe-shaped nest with a side entrance, high in an isolated tree, while the male usually perches nearby and sings.

Where it lives

It is a common resident of the lowlands on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes, and uncommon and local in the dry northwest. It ranges up to about 1000 m on the Caribbean side and about 1200 m on the Pacific side. It lives at the edges of humid forest, old second growth, shaded plantations such as coffee, and mangroves. In Guanacaste it uses evergreen gallery forest. It is only occasionally seen inside the forest.

Similar birds

The Black-and-white Becard is the likeliest to be confused with it, but the male has a gray back where the White-winged male is black above. That species is rarer and found at highland sites such as Tapanti. A dark becard on the Pacific slope may be a Rose-throated Becard, whose Costa Rican male is all dark with no rose throat. Cinnamon Becard is smaller and rufous.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR Spanish name is Cabezón Aliblanco. Cabezón means big-headed in Costa Rican Spanish, a nod to the becard's large, flattish head.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list gives it as a resident (R), found on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides.

Photography tips

Because it forages high in the trees, photographs are often of birds seen from below. One guide says even a modest shot of the female is realistic for how she looks through binoculars. Forest edges and semi-open areas give the best chance of a clear view.

How we know this 15 sources, each read on the date shown
  1. Ecos del Bosque (citing Stiles and Skutch) read 2026-11-04https://ecosdelbosque.com/fauna/pachyramphus-polychopterus
  2. Aves de Costa Rica read 2026-11-04https://avesdecostarica.com/Pachyramphus-polychopterus.html
  3. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/2012/06/04/where-to-see-becards-when-birding-in-costa-rica/
  4. iNaturalist (from Wikipedia) read 2026-11-04https://uk.inaturalist.org/taxa/8716-Pachyramphus-polychopterus
  5. Osa Birds read 2026-11-04https://osabirds.org/white-winged-becard/
  6. Flickr (Costa Rican natural history text) read 2026-11-04https://www.flickr.com/photos/jobando/27202484585
  7. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Becard
  8. Wikipedia read 2026-11-04https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-winged_becard
  9. Cornell Birds of the World (Black-and-white Becard) read 2026-11-04https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/bawbec7/cur/introduction
  10. Eagle-Eye Tours trip report read 2026-11-04https://www.eagle-eye.com/blog/costa-rica-sampler-jan-18-28-2024-trip-report/
  11. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cr220.html
  12. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/crh22b.html
  13. Field Guides trip list read 2026-11-04https://fieldguides.com/triplists/cos17.html
  14. Wikipedia (es) read 2026-11-04https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachyramphus_polychopterus
  15. Birding Craft read 2026-11-04https://birdingcraft.com/wordpress/tag/rose-throated-becard/