Myiarchus crinitus
Isidor Jeklin, Global Air Photos
The Great Crested
Flycatcher is a medium-sized bird, about the size of a
robin. It grows up to nine inches long. This bird is brown with a
gray throat and a yellow belly. It usually lives in
forests. People usually see Great
Crested Flycatchers flying out from a branch, grabbing an
insect, then returning to the same branch to eat. This bird eats a great
variety of insects, such as beetles, grasshoppers, crickets,
butterflies, dragonflies, katydids, and bees. It also eats
small lizards, and many fruits. Great Crested Flycatchers
will hunt from the ground, or from plants, as well as from
the air. Bryan Stevens
Arthur Morris/ www.birdsasart.com
Great Crested
Flycatchers breed from March to June. They build a nest in a
tree cavity.
Sometimes they build in a nest box set out by
people. Nests are made from
leaves, grass,
pine needles,
bark,
rootlets,
twigs,
moss,
feathers, and fur. These birds will use bits of trash, and
are well-known to use snakeskin in the nest. This may be to
scare off predators. The female flycatcher
will lay five or six creamy white eggs with brown spots.
Both adults care for they young who will hatch after two
weeks. In another two weeks, they will fledge
(leave the nest). Victor W. Fazio,
III Great Crested
Flycatchers rely on other animals, especially woodpeckers,
to make holes for them to live in. Sometimes they have to
fight with squirrels or European Starlings over a nesting
hole. Usually, the flycatcher loses. Squirrels also prey on
baby flycatchers. Other predators of this bird include
hawks, owls, and snakes.
Copyright, Peter May