Geo-locators for Golden-wings...

Golden-winged Warblers - Costa Rica --(not Maidstone, Kent UK!)

We caught this female a couple of days ago. Unusual to see a female this high in the Costa Rica Highlands, the males winter at this altitude - the females lower down.

Males are what we usually hear then see calling from the branches above, though this male was in Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. From January Geo-locators are to be fitted to Golden-winged Warblers part of a much larger all Americas study into the species, though hybridization with Blue-winged Warblers is the real concern, and why we may never see one in the UK again....
I retrapped a site faithful wintering bird here in 2013, see  A first !...and golden-winged finale in Costa Rica  for details....

On the same subject we retrapped  this very fine male Wilson's Warbler this morning. Again another site faithful returning bird. We think this is my first returning Wilson's, and we think it was ringed in Fall 2012 or earlier.

This is the Highlands habitat they enjoy.

These warblers winter in mixed flocks with resident warblers, redstarts, vireos etc. They seem to like the forest edge and the lightly wooded dairy pastures, the main feature of our habitat outside primary forest.
Black and White Warblers are often in the flocks too.

Yellow-winged Vireo, an endemic to Costa Rica and Panama Highlands.

Here showing it's close family relationship to shrikes...

We were back in our primary forest site yesterday and ....

our second Scaled Antpitta of the trip.
Wendy and I were stunned to find the first, and when Yuly came back yesterday saying that she had just found another...amazement.

This second bird also a juvenile.
Tomorrow if the rain stops....our final visit to Lake, then on Wednesday our last session in the forest. Hopefully when we return in 2016, two further standard banding sites may be open, to complement the three currently in use here at Madre Selva in the Highlands.