Flame-throated Warbler

How to find it

It is small and keeps to the upper canopy, so scan high and listen for the buzzy song and the sharp chit. Look for mixed feeding flocks, where it may join other insect-eating birds outside the breeding season. Flocks at eye level, for example on a downhill walk in the Savegre valley, give the best views. Branches with mistletoe, lichen and moss are good places to watch. Check road and trail edges too, where birds have been seen foraging on the ground. Tour groups also find it along Calle La Paz and near the radio tower area, a high-elevation stop in the southern highlands.

How to recognise it

This is a tiny warbler, about 12 cm long. Look for these marks:

Slate-grey upperparts.

A black mask on the face.

A bright vermilion throat and breast.

A whitish belly.

Males and females look almost the same. The one difference is that the male's black mask covers a larger area, a detail best checked when the bird gives a close look.

The bright orange-red throat and breast on a slate-grey bird set it apart from other highland warblers. Its closest relative, the Crescent-chested Warbler, is a different species. The Flame-throated lives only at high elevations in Costa Rica and western Panama.

Behaviour and diet

It is very active, picking caterpillars, insects and spiders off foliage with its sharp, pointed bill. It forages mostly in the canopy and sometimes hangs acrobatically to reach leaves and twig tips.

While breeding it defends a territory. At other times it joins feeding flocks of insect-eating birds, often travelling with mixed groups of insect-eaters and fruit-eaters. It can be seen alone, hopping between branches, or with several others. On one Costa Rica tour these warblers were often seen on the ground, mostly along road and trail edges where they liked to forage.

Where it lives

In Costa Rica it lives in the canopy, woodland edges and tree-dotted clearings of Talamanca highland forest. It is usually found from about 2,100 m up to the timberline. On the Caribbean slope in the wet season it may drop as low as about 1,400 m.

It occurs in the highlands from the Cordillera Central south through Talamanca, and on into western Chiriqui, Panama. The first specimen came from Irazu. It is also listed as a year-round resident of the Costa Rican páramo, the treeless high-mountain zone. Elsewhere in its range it favours oak-dominated woodland and forest edges in the Chiriqui highlands.

When to see it

A Costa Rican account says it drops to about 1,400 m late in the rainy season, so lower sites may be better then. A summer tour, July 29 to August 13, called it a regular member of highland mixed flocks in the Savegre valley.

Similar birds

The bright orange-red throat and breast on a slate-grey bird separate it from other highland warblers. Its closest relative, the Crescent-chested Warbler, is a different species. Its song resembles the Northern Parula's, so rely on plumage as well as sound. Do not confuse its name with the Fiery-throated Hummingbird, called Colibrí Garganta de Fuego, which has almost the same Spanish name.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the bird is called Reinita Garganta de Fuego, or just Garganta de Fuego, and reserve bird lists often shorten it that way. In Panama it is Reinita Gorguirroja, and elsewhere it is often called Reinita Flamígera.

Status and conservation

The AOCR lists it as a resident regional endemic (R-END), and the IUCN rates it Least Concern.

Photography tips

Mixed flocks at eye level, for example on a downhill walk, give the best photo chances. It can be seen alone, hopping between branches, or with several others, so patience at a good flock helps.