Arremon crassirostris
Silhouette: Juan Camilo Cepeda-Duque · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, based on 547 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 140th most-seen of the 412 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and December–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty-faced Finch in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in February–September and November, the lowest months.
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.
Yes
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Sooty-faced Finch sightings, Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Arenal Volcano National Park (Costa Rica, under 5%) and Braulio Carrillo National Park (Costa Rica, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty-faced Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (547 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.
