Tawny-chested Flycatcher

Overview

The tawny-chested flycatcher (Aphanotriccus capitalis) is a small, vulnerable passerine bird belonging to the family Tyrannidae. This monotypic species is currently restricted to northeastern Costa Rica, though historical records indicate it was once found in Nicaragua.

Identification

• Measures 12 to 13 cm in length and weighs approximately 11 g, resembling a brighter version of an Empidonax flycatcher.
• Features a dark gray crown with a white stripe above dark lores, and an olive-green nape, back, and rump with an ochraceous tinge.
• Displays bright cinnamon-ochre breast, yellow belly, and dusky wings marked with two bright ochraceous wing bars from coverts.
• Song consists of a rapid chee chee spt’t cheew or chit it-it chee’yew, sometimes expanding into a more extensive choot choot choot ch-ch-ch-chttttree’ih.

Habitat

Restricted to the Caribbean slope of northeastern Costa Rica, from Alajuela Province south to central Limón Province, between sea level and 1,000 m elevation. It inhabits humid mature secondary forest in the upper tropical and subtropical zones, favoring forest edges, natural clearings, and the edges of small watercourses, with occasional records in cacao plantations.

Diet

Feeds exclusively on insects, foraging singly or in pairs and never joining mixed-species feeding flocks. It perches horizontally in dense vegetation, from low to the ground up into the mid-levels of the forest, and captures prey with sallies from the perch to snatch it from foliage and branches.

Did you know?

The species has been observed nesting in a hollow section of Guadua bamboo stalk approximately 6 m above the ground, a habit that may aid its conservation as this bamboo is widely introduced in the region for supporting banana trees in plantations.