Interesting!
I have no idea, but it could be because you have two different types of problems in Contourplot (contourplot of a function f[ x, y ] and solve an equation) that CP copes only with one type.
Look at this
f[x_, y_] := x^2 + y^2
ContourPlot[{f[x, y]}, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -5, 5}] (* ok *)
ContourPlot[{f[x, y], x^2 - Sin[y] == 4}, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -5, 5}] (* doesn't the 1st plot *)
ContourPlot[{f[x, y] == 6, x^2 - Sin[y] == 4}, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -5, 5}]
ContourPlot[{f[x, y] == 2, f[x, y] == 4, f[x, y] == 6, f[x, y] == 8, x^2 - Sin[y] == 4}, {x, -5, 5}, {y, -5, 5}]