Mystery bird: barred antshrike, Thamnophilus doliatus | @GrrlScientist

This Costa Rican mystery bird has an unusual reproductive behaviour amongst birds Barred antshrike, Thamnophilus doliatus (protonym, Lanius doliatus), Linnaeus, 1764, photographed in Tarcoles River Mangrove, Puntarenas province of Costa Rica (Central America). Image: Alex Vargas, 4 June 2010 (with permission, for GrrlScientist/Guardian use only) [velociraptorise]. Nikon D5000, Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR 1/320s f/5.0 at 420.0mm iso200 with a Kenko 1.4X teleconverter on. Question: This Costa Rican mystery bird's family has an unusual reproductive behaviour amongst birds. What behaviour is that? Can you name this mystery bird's taxonomic family and species? Is this an adult or a juvenile? A male or a female? How can you tell? Response: This is an adult male barred antshrike, Thamnophilus doliatus. Adult males are barred with black and white and have a black crest with white underneath that they can raise. Adult females have rufous upperparts and crest,...

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