Arremon crassirostris
Silhouette: Juan Camilo Cepeda-Duque · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The sooty-faced finch (Arremon crassirostris) is a species of bird in the family Emberizidae, the New World sparrows. It is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Panama. The sooty-faced finch has a complicated taxonomic history. It was formally described in 1865 with the binomial Buarremon crassirostris. In 1898 Robert Ridgway erected a new genus for it, Lysurus. He also assigned what is now the olive finch (then Buarremon castaneiceps, now Arremon castaneiceps) to the new genus. In 2008 taxonomists began merging Lysurus into Arremon. The sooty-faced and olive finches are now treated as sister species.
The sooty-faced finch is monotypic. The sooty-faced finch is 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 37 to 40.5 g (1.3 to 1.4 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a rusty crown and a white down-sweeping "moustache" on an otherwise blackish gray head and nape. Their upperparts are dark olive-green and their wings and tail a slightly browner olive-green. Their upper breast, sides, and flanks are dark olive-green and their lower breast and belly yellow. They have a dark brown or chocolate-brown iris, a dark gray maxilla, a pale... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 2 | Arenal Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 3 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Poás Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Tapantí-Macizo de la Muerte National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Chirripó National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | Los Quetzales National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 8 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty-faced Finch sighting in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, based on 126 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 297th most-seen of the 505 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty-faced Finch in Braulio Carrillo National Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to October, the lowest months. That is one of Braulio Carrillo National Park's wettest months, with about 550 mm of rain against 170 mm in April.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty-faced Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Sooty-faced Finch sightings, Braulio Carrillo National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (Costa Rica, under 5%) and Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, under 5%).
Same genus: Arremon
The closest relatives of the Sooty-faced Finch that you can see in Braulio Carrillo National Park (genus Arremon, Arremon Brushfinches and Sparrows) are Orange-billed Sparrow (about 20%) and Chestnut-capped Brushfinch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty-faced Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Braulio Carrillo National Park (126 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
