Great Crested Flycatcher

The Great Crested Flycatcher is the most widespread large flycatcher of eastern North American woodlands, sporting an olive-brown back, gray throat and breast, a bright lemon-yellow belly, and rufous highlights in the wings and tail. Though often heard more than seen as it forages high in the canopy, its loud, ringing calls are a familiar sound of eastern forests in summer.

A cavity-nesting species, it has an unusual and well-known nesting habit of incorporating shed snakeskin, or shiny materials like cellophane when snakeskin is unavailable, into its nest lining, a behavior thought to help deter predators.

Key Field Marks

• Olive-brown back and short, bushy crest
• Gray throat and breast contrasting with a bright yellow belly
• Rufous-edged wing feathers and a notably rufous tail, visible in flight
• Fairly large size and stout bill for a flycatcher

Similar Species

• Ash-throated Flycatcher and other western Myiarchus flycatchers are paler, with less contrasting yellow bellies and paler rufous in the tail; ranges rarely overlap.
• Great Kiskadee is much larger and brighter with a bold black-and-white head pattern, unlike the plainer head of this species.
• Voice is often the best distinguishing feature among Myiarchus flycatchers.

Great Crested Flycatchers breed in deciduous and mixed woodlands across the eastern United States and southern Canada, favoring forest edges, open woods, orchards, and suburban areas with mature trees, where they forage and nest in the canopy.

The species winters from southern Mexico through Central America into northern South America, undertaking a substantial migration each spring and fall.

Voice

Gives a loud, rolling wheep call and a rising prrreeet, often the first clue to its presence high in the treetops.

Feeding

Forages actively in the mid to upper canopy, sallying out to catch flying insects or gleaning them from leaves and bark; also eats a variety of fruit, particularly outside the breeding season.

Nesting

Nests in a natural tree cavity or old woodpecker hole, sometimes using nest boxes, and famously incorporates shed snakeskin (or shiny substitutes like plastic wrap) into the nest lining, a trait thought to help discourage nest predators.