Great Crested Flycatcher

The great crested flycatcher is a fascinating and elegant songbird with a big crest on its head and a luxurious mating call. Often obscured by foliage and trees, it’s usually heard more often than it’s seen. This species is considered to be a member of the tyrant flycatcher family, a diverse group of birds entirely native to the Americas.

3 Amazing Great Crested Flycatcher Facts

• The great crested flycatcher is sometimes the victim of the brown-headed cowbird. “Brood parasitism” means that the interloper will lay its eggs in the flycatcher’s nest and hope the mother will raise the young as its own. Despite being raised by other birds, the cowbird still has its own species-specific calls.
• The great crested flycatcher plays an important ecological role by controlling insect populations.
• The flycatcher’s egg is colored creamy white to pink with brown, purple, or lavender spots.

Where to Find the Great Crested Flycatcher

The great crested flycatcher can be found in sparse woodlands and groves across the eastern United States and parts of Canada in the breeding season, then in Central and South America in the winter. They tend to live near the edge of forests, around open plains. Old woodpecker holes and tree cavities are chosen by the female as a nesting site.

Nests

The flycatcher’s nest is constructed high up in the canopy to avoid competition with other bird species. A large variety of nesting materials is used, including leaves, feathers, grass, string, fur, snakeskin, and trash.

Classification and Scientific Name

The scientific name of the great crested flycatcher is Myiarchus crinitus. The name Myiarchus, a large genus of 22 species, is derived from the combination of two Greek words, meaning roughly “fly ruler.” Crinitus means long-haired or especially hairy (even though the species obviously doesn’t have hair).

Size, Appearance, and Behavior

The great crested flycatcher is a medium-sized bird, measuring about 7 or 8 inches tall. It can be identified by the lemon-yellow stomach and the reddish-brown or blue-gray back, wings, and head. Other prominent features include the large crest and the long, narrow beak. Males and females are almost indistinguishable from each other, but juveniles are generally duller in color.

The great crested flycatcher is an agile flyer. It does the majority of its hunting in the air, usually around dawn or dusk, and does not come to the ground very often. This bird seems to be constantly on alert for intruders and threats, looking in all directions with its bobbing head.

Migration Pattern and Timing

Following the end of the breeding season, the great crested flycatcher migrates south for the winter. Most birds settle somewhere between Mexico and Colombia. They travel alone or in pairs.

Diet

The great crested flycatcher is an omnivore. They often sit on a high perch and wait for prey to pass by so they can swoop down and eat it. They will also sometimes hover near a plant and snatch the prey in their beaks. Almost none of their hunting and foraging is done on the ground.

What does the great crested flycatcher eat?

The flycatcher’s diet largely consists of insects. Some of its favorite foods include crickets, beetles, butterflies, moths, and, of course, flies. It will supplement this with spiders, small lizards, and fruits and berries (especially in its winter migration home). They will regurgitate the pits of the fruits after eating the soft flesh.

Predators, Threats, and Conservation Status

The great crested flycatcher is considered to be a species of least concern by the IUCN Red List, but some individual birds do fall victim to predators, pesticide poisoning, and habitat loss. Competition for scarce nesting sites is often fierce and difficult.

What eats the great crested flycatcher?

An adult bird doesn’t usually have much to fear from predators, but eggs and hatchlings are often vulnerable to snakes, squirrels, and other arboreal animals. It will make a fast, repeating call when a predator is spotted. If the predator doesn’t heed its warning, then it may dive down and attack.

Reproduction, Young, and Molting

The breeding season of the great crested flycatcher lasts every year between May and July. The male makes a three-part whistling song to attract a mate. The courtship is then sealed with a vaunted aerial ritualized behavior in which the male will swoop down at a potential mate and hope for a positive response. Sometimes, he will even pursue the female back to her nesting cavity. Once they’ve mated, the mother will lay four to six eggs and incubate them for about two weeks.

The young are later born helpless, naked, and without sight, entirely dependent on their parents. The female will provide much of the food for the hatchlings, while the male will defend the territory from intruders. The first flight begins around 13 to 15 days of age, but the juveniles remain with the parents for another three weeks. By the arrival of the next breeding season, the juveniles are ready to mate for the first time. The typical lifespan is thought to be around 10 years or more, but it’s difficult to estimate because few birds return to their original nesting location. The maximum recorded lifespan was 14 years.

Population

It’s estimated that some 8.8 million great crested flycatchers (mature individuals) are alive, according to Partners in Flight 2019. The population trend is currently considered stable.