Sharpbill | Oxyruncidae

Scherpsnavels | Picoagudos

A family with a single species, the Sharpbill, which occurs patchily and locally in the canopy of humid foothill and montane forest, in the region mainly in Costa Rica and Panama. It is a starling-sized bird with a short, straight, sharply pointed conical bill, to which it owes its name. The upperparts are olive green, the head and underparts yellowish white densely marked with black spots and scales, and a concealed orange-red stripe runs along the crown that becomes visible only when the bird is excited; the eye is orange. The Sharpbill forages acrobatically, often hanging from twigs or the undersides of leaves, and probes rolled-up leaves and moss for insects and their eggs; it also eats fruit. Outside the breeding season it often travels with mixed flocks through the canopy. The song is a long, buzzy, descending trill that carries further than such an inconspicuous bird would suggest. The nest is a small, shallow cup fastened with spider silk to a branch high in a tree. Its place in the classification has long been uncertain; its closest relatives appear to be the cotingas and tityras.