tags: Slate-Colored Boubou, Boubou Shrike, Laniarius funebris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Slate-Colored Boubou, also known as the Boubou Shrike, Laniarius funebris, photographed in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 19 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 200-400 VR lens at 400 mm ISO 640, f/4.5. 1/320 sec.
This lovely bird is a member of a taxonomic family that does not occur in North America -- can you identify it anyway?
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This species has a remarkable behavior that is not seen in many North American birds; can you tell me what that behavior is?
This species has a peculiar song that is produced by both the male and the female in a mated pair:
Even though both sexes can sing a complete song, parts of an individual's song repertoire often remain silent when they are regularly uttered by an individual bird's partner (this is known as "song splitting" or "sympathetic song"). To accomplish this, each individual has to select one element of its own overt repertoire and sing that, based on which element it just heard its partner sing. Thus, an individual has to learn both the male and female repertiore: it remembers that of the opposite sex as a silent repertoire. When pair-specific duetting results from an adjustment between partners' overt and silent repertoires, it may serve a pair-bonding function.
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I'll guess Northern Black Flycatcher (Melaenornis edolioides) because of the dull black rather than glossy plumage, squarish tail, and dark eye.
The bill looks too heavy for a flycatcher, as does the whole bird. Judging from the shape of the tail and of the bird in general, my vote goes to the family that eats in the field.