Yellow-thighed Brushfinch

How to find it

Check forest edges and roads near highland lodges, where guides find it. It also comes to feeders in San Gerardo de Dota, where tour groups have seen it. Look near the ground, where it works through low tangles and bushes. Pastures, gardens and open edges are worth a scan, since it leaves the understory to chase prey there. Check passing mixed flocks for a dark bird with yellow thighs. It is usually in pairs or small groups, so one bird often means more nearby.

How to recognise it

Look for a dark, slender, long-tailed bird with the shape of an Atlapetes brushfinch.

The plumage is mostly sooty gray, with black on the head, throat, wings and tail. Adults have a black crown and nape, slaty black upperparts and an olive-green wash on the breast and belly. The bill is fairly long and thin.

The yellow thighs are the mark to look for. Costa Rican text calls them fluffy, and they contrast sharply with the dark body.

The bird is about 18.5 cm long and about 31 g. Young birds look duller and sootier, with a brown tone below and olive-brown thighs instead of yellow.

Some adults show a few whitish feathers on the upper eyelid and forehead, and white spots at the bend of the wing. Do not let these details confuse the identification.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

This is a sociable bird. It travels in pairs, family groups and social groups, and it joins mixed-species flocks with small birds such as warblers. It often flicks its tail.

It forages at all levels, from the treetops to the ground. It readily leaves the forest understory to chase prey in pastures, gardens and forest edges.

In Costa Rica the nest is a bulky cup of straw, grass blades and dry bamboo leaves. It is often placed in vegetated ravines, especially ones with bamboo, 0.5 to 4.5 m above ground.

Where it lives

It is common in wet mountain forest, second growth, bamboo clumps, scrubby pasture and bushy clearings. It lives from about 1,700 m up to the timberline.

Costa Rican text calls it a common resident in the high Cordillera Volcánica Central and the Cordillera de Talamanca. Outside the breeding season some birds drop to about 1,200 m, on the Caribbean slopes among other places.

When to see it

Breeding runs from March to May, and family groups can be seen soon after.

Similar birds

Large-footed Finch also has yellow thighs and shares the highlands. It has olive upperparts and a slate-gray face, unlike the sooty gray body of the brushfinch. Juveniles lack the yellow thighs, but their overall sooty color still identifies them, and they are usually with adults.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Saltón de Muslos Amarillos, and one natural history caption adds Calzones Amarillos. Other Spanish names listed for the species are Cerquero Musliamarillo, Pinzón Musliamarillo and Sabanero de Piernas Amarillas. That caption also uses the older genus name Pselliophorus.

Status and conservation

It is listed as Least Concern, and the AOCR list marks it as a regional endemic resident of Costa Rica (R-END).

Photography tips

Its approachable habits help, but patience matters. On one guided morning near the Resplendent Quetzal viewpoint the bird kept its yellow thighs hidden while a photographer tried to shoot it. Forest edges and feeders are the best bets.