Mystery Bird photographed at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel and Nature Reserve within the Los Ángeles Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, near San Ramón, Costa Rica (Central America). [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Alex Vargas, 4 May 2010 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Nikon D5000, Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR 1/125s f/3.5 at 300.0mm iso400
This Central American mystery bird has a behavioural trait that makes it fairly easy to identify, can you tell me what behaviour that is and why this species shows it? Can you identify this bird's taxonomic family and species? And, as a bonus question, can you identify this bird's gender and whether it's an adult or juvenile?
About the Daily Mystery Bird:
1. Keep in mind that people live in zillions of different time zones around the globe, and some people are following on their mobile phones. So let everyone play the game. Wait to identify the bird until 24 to 36 hours after it's been published.
2. If you know the bird's identity, provide subtle hints to let others know that you know. Your hints may be helpful as small clues to less experienced players.
3. Describe the key field marks that distinguish this species from any similar ones.
4. Comments that spoil others' enjoyment may be deleted.
1. This is meant to be a learning experience where together we learn a few things about birds and about the process of identifying them (and maybe about ourselves, too).
2. Each mystery bird is usually accompanied by a question or two. These questions can be useful for identifying the pictured species, but may instead be used to illustrate an interesting aspect of avian biology, behaviour or evolution, or may be intended to generate conversation on other topics, such as conservation or ethics.
3. Thoughtful comments will add to everyone's enjoyment, and will keep the suspense going until the next teaser is published. Interesting snippets may add to the knowledge of all.
4. Each bird species will be demystified approximately 48 hours after publication.
You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.
If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative international audience here at The Guardian, feel free to contact me to learn more.
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