Sooty-faced Finch

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 yellow or whitish mandible, and dark legs and feet. Juveniles are mostly rich olive-brown with a black-smudged dull yellow belly.

The sooty-faced finch is found primarily in Costa Rica and Panama. In them ranges from the Cordillera de Tilarán in Costa Rica's northern San José Province south along the Cordillera de Talamanca into Panama as far as Coclé Province. It also has a small population on Cerro Tacarcuna that straddles the Panama-Colombia border. It inhabits montane evergreen forest in the subtropical and lower temperate zones. There it favors dense undergrowth, especially in ravines and along streams. Sources differ on its elevation range. An older one states that it overall ranges between 600 and 2,000 m (2,000 and 6,600 ft) and a much more recent one says between 600 and 2,340 m (2,000 and 7,700 ft). In most of its Costa Rican range it is found between 600 and 1,500 m (2,000 and 4,900 ft) but on the Pacific slope of the northern Cordillera de Talamanca is found between 1,200 and 1,600 m (3,900 and 5,200 ft).

The sooty-faced finch feeds on insects, spiders, and berries. It forages on or near the ground, flicking its wings and tail as it hops along. It sometimes attends army ant swarms.