New CR Bird - Cape May Warbler @ Las Brisas

Hola Amigos - A good friend of ours, Ernesto Carmen, called us last night to inform us of a Cape May Warbler sighting near Siquirres.  So after getting some much needed directions, we decided to 'twitch' this Costa Rican Rarity.  We left early this morning and drove to the Las Brisas Reserve to try our luck.  After arriving, we met a few birders already at the site, Donald Jimenez and his friend Juan.  They told us they had seen the bird just before we arrived and they had nice photos to prove it.  My confidence grew and I thought this was going to be easy - remember children:  Nothing is Easy!  However, my confidence began to fade after 3 hours of searching yielded - NOTHING! 
The owner of the property, Eric Berlin, offered to take us into the Las Brisas Reserve and give us a short tour of the property. Wow, what a fantastic piece of property this is.  Stunning forest that stretches as far as the eye can see.  I can't wait to go back and really get a feel for what this place has to offer. After climbing up two very well constructed canopy towers, we headed back to the car to try the Cape May once again.  While hiking back to the car, we came across a small mixed feeding flock.  A Red-throated Ant-Tanager popped out and then was followed by a Blue-winged (Brewster's) Warbler.  This was a new Costa Rican Bird for Magdalena and we began to think our luck was changing...Oh yeah...
After arriving back to the Cape May site, we began scanning the trees and bushes once again.  After less than 5 minutes, we finally found our target. I spotted some movement and sure enough it was our bird -a juvenile male Cape May Warbler!  We quickly made our way back to where he was feeding and got off a few shots before he flew away.  This was a new Costa Rican Bird for us both - 778 for the SMAN and 763 for my lovely wife!  The drive back home was much nicer after having seen our target bird, Yeah!!!

Apparently our luck hadn't worn off yet, because after arriving back home we saw a pair of  Barred Parakeets fly right above our house, then they swung back around and flew over for a 2nd time. 
Not an easy bird in Costa Rica and certainly not common in our area!
Thanks again to Donald Jimenez for his help at Las Brisas and also thanks to Eric Berlin for his hospitality!!!
Good Birding - Steven Easley - THE SMAN

Blue-winged (Brewster's) Warbler - Las Brisas Reserve

Blue-winged (Brewster's) Warbler - Las Brisas Reserve



Olive-backed Euphonia (female) - Las Brisas Reserve



White-ruffed Manakin (female) - Las Brisas Reserve




Cape May Warbler (juvenile male) - Las Brisas Reserve