Black-and-yellow phainoptila

Taxonomy and systematics

The black-and-yellow phainoptila is the only member of its genus, but its further taxonomy is unresolved. The IOC, the Clements taxonomy, AviList, and the American Ornithological Society assign it two subspecies, the nominate P. m. melanoxantha (Salvin, 1877) and P. m. parkeri (Barrantes & Sánchez, JE, 2000). However, as of late 2025 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World includes a third, P. m. minor. The IOC and AviList call the species black-and-yellow phainoptila and the others call it the black-and-yellow silky-flycatcher. The generic name Phainoptila is derived from the Greek and means "shining plumage".

Description

The black-and-yellow phainoptila is about 20 cm long. It weighs an average of 60 g. It is a heavy-bodied bird with a wide rounded tail. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a black head, back, wings, and tail. Their rump is bright yellow. Their throat is black, their breast olive-green, the center of their belly gray, and the rest of their belly, sides, flanks, and undertail coverts bright yellow. Adult females have a dark gray hindneck, face, and throat that blends through sooty gray to a dark olive-green breast. Juveniles are similar to adult females but duller overall, with a sooty crown, faint dusky streaks on the breast, and olive-green flanks. Males of subspecies P. m. parkeri have a completely yellow breast (without the nominate's gray center) and females have a different pattern of streaks on the breast. Both subspecies have a dull red iris, a black bill, and black legs and feet with yellow soles.

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies P. m. parkeri of the black-and-yellow phainoptila is found in the Tilarán and Guanacaste cordilleras in northern Costa Rica. The nominate subspecies is found in the Cordillera Central in central Costa Rica and the Cordillera de Talamanca which extends from south-central Costa Rica into western Panama. The ranges are separated from each other by deep river valleys in which the phainoptila is not found.

The black-and-yellow phainoptila inhabits elfin forest and upper montane evergreen forest in the subtropical and temperate zones. Overall it ranges in elevation from 1200 to. Subspecies P. m. parkeri is found from 1200 m and the nominate from 1800 m to the timber line.

Behavior

Movement

The black-and-yellow phainoptila is a generally a year-round resident. However, there is a suggestion that it breeds in the lower elevations of its range and moves higher after breeding.

Feeding

The black-and-yellow phainoptila feeds almost exclusively on fruits though it is known to include very small numbers of insects in its diet. Fruits from at least 36 genera of plants have been documented. It plucks fruit mostly while perched and take insects in mid-air. It forages mostly in the forest's middle levels. It has been documented briefly joining flocks of Chlorospingus sparrows.

Breeding

The black-and-yellow phainoptila breeds mostly between March and May, the highlands' rainy season. The species' nest is a cup made from green moss with some plant fibers and lined with fine rootlets and stems. Nests have been found between about 1.5 and above the ground in saplings and trees. The usual clutch is two eggs that are grayish white covered with dark spots. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.

Vocalization

The black-and-yellow phainoptila apparently does not sing. Its calls are "[h]igh, sharp, rather soft tsitting and tseeping notes" whose tempo and volume increase before flight.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the black-and-yellow phainoptila as being of Least Concern. It has a large range; its estimated population of between 20,000 and 50,000 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered fairly common in Costa Rica.

References

References

1. BirdLife International. (2021). "Blackl-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher ''Phainoptila melanoxantha''".
2. (March 2025). "Waxwings and allies, tits, penduline tits".
3. Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2025. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2025. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved 3 November 2025
4. AviList Core Team. 2025. AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025. https://doi.org/10.2173/avilist.v2025 retrieved 11 June 2025
5. . . "Check-list of North American Birds". *American Ornithologists' Union*. (1998)
6. HBW and BirdLife International (2025). Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 10. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/about-our-science/taxonomy#birdlife-s-taxonomic-checklist retrieved 12 October 2025
7. (2025). "Phainoptila". Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
8. (2007). "The Birds of Costa Rica". Zona Tropical/Comstock/Cornell University Press.
9. Villarreal-Loáiciga, M. and A. Wroe-Miranda (2020). Black-and-yellow Silky-flycatcher (''Phainoptila melanoxantha''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (S. M. Billerman, B. K. Keeney, P. G. Rodewald, and T. S. Schulenberg, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.bayfly1.01 retrieved 17 December 2025