Mystery Bird photographed at Intervales State Park, São Paulo state, Brazil. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Nick Athanas/Tropical Birding, 1 October 2007 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Samsung digital camera
This Brazilian mystery bird species is poorly known and is placed in a taxonomic family that I've never shown to you before. Can you identify this species and its taxonomic family?
About the Daily Mystery Bird:
The Rules:
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.
The Game:
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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Comments
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4 January 2012 4:45PM
A very odd bird, long of uncertain affinities. It now finds its home in the family of some of South America's most strange and showy forest birds.
You can't quite see the characteristic of its tail that gives it part of its vernacular name.
4 January 2012 5:18PM
TwitchEd must be away from his desk, so here goes with the anagrams:
Lowdown Cat-tail Silage, or fill a vaporish airburst
Like most of the family, this is a bird largely of the canopy, but it is aberrant in the length and shape of its tail and in that it much of its food comes from hawking insects.
4 January 2012 5:38PM
Full Brazilian Wax(wing)?
4 January 2012 5:55PM
Not well, scalawag, idiot!
4 January 2012 6:17PM
Applause, applause!
4 January 2012 6:36PM
Looking at the crown, this looks like a female, though it's hard to be sure in this shot, and the sexes are pretty similar. But it COULD be a male, as this is the only species in the family known to show male incubation and other nest attendance behaviours.
Not ignoring you, Expecten, but your Brazilian Wax has, for now, gone right past me!
4 January 2012 6:54PM
Bad humour on my part :)
6 January 2012 6:06PM
i was a bit confused by the brazilian wax, too, but hoped someone else would explain.
anywho, this mystery bird has been demystified here (includes two videos).