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Great Crested Flycatcher

Myiarchus crinitusOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Flycatchers (Tyrannidae)

Great Crested Flycatcher Breeding Male Portrait
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General

Great Crested Flycatcher: Large, crested flycatcher with olive-green upperparts. Head, throat, and upper breast are gray, belly is yellow, and undertail coverts are lemon-yellow. Bill is heavy and black. Wings are dark with rufous patches. Tail is rufous. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Great Crested Flycatcher: Breeds from south-central and southeastern Canada to the Gulf coast. Spends winters in southern Florida; also in tropics.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"wheep!", "prrrrrrrrrreeeet", "wheeep"

Interesting Facts

 The Great Crested Flycatcher is the only eastern flycatcher that nests in holes.

 An unusual habit is its frequent use of shed snakeskins in its nest lining. Whether this is intended to frighten off predators or merely decorate the nest is not known.

 They spend much of their time perched on treetops and prefer to fly from place to place on the ground rather than walk or hop.

 A group of flycatchers has many collective nouns, including an "outfield", "swatting", "zapper", and "zipper" of flycatchers.



Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Great Creasted Flycatcher
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family Flycatcher (Tyrannidae)_blue
Species Myiarchus crinitus
Length8.5 Inches
Wingspan13 Inches

Great Crested Flycatcher

Great Crested Flycatcher: Large, crested flycatcher with olive-green upperparts. Head, throat, and upper breast are gray, belly is yellow, and undertail coverts are lemon-yellow. Bill is heavy and black. Wings are dark with rufous patches. Tail is rufous. Swift bouyant direct flight.

● Song: "wheep!", "prrrrrrrrrreeeet", "wheeep"

● Foraging & Feeding: Great Crested Flycatcher: Eats variety of large insects, including beetles, crickets, katydids, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies; also eats fruits and berries; forages by flying from a perch to snatch insects from foliage, mid-air, or on the ground.

● Breeding & nesting: Great Crested Flycatcher: Four to eight white to buff eggs marked with brown, olive, and lavender are laid in a nest filled and lined with grass, weeds, bark strips, rootlets, feathers, fur, snake skin, onion skin, and cellophane. Nest is usually built in a cavity, abandoned hole of another bird, or bird box.

● Similar species: Great Crested Flycatcher: Ash-throated Flycatcher has smaller bill, white throat, and pale gray breast.

Flight Pattern

Fairly swift buoyant direct flight., Hawks insects in flight, returning to perch., Hovers over foliage or ground then dips for food.
Great Crested Flycatcher Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Great Crested Flycatcher: Breeds from south-central and southeastern Canada to the Gulf coast. Spends winters in southern Florida; also in tropics.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.2 Ounces