Great Crested Flycatcher Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Great Crested Flycatchers are large flycatchers with fairly long and lean proportions. Like many flycatchers they have a powerful build with broad shoulders and a large head. Despite its name, this bird’s crest is not especially prominent. The bill is fairly wide at the base and straight; the tail is fairly long.

  Relative Size

  Larger than an Eastern Bluebird; smaller than an American Robin.

  robin-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 6.7-8.3 in (17-21 cm)
    • Weight: 0.9-1.4 oz (27-40 g)
    • Wingspan: 13.4 in (34 cm)

  © Keenan Yakola / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Great Crested Flycatchers are reddish-brown above, with a brownish-gray head, gray throat and breast, and bright lemon-yellow belly. The brown upperparts are highlighted by rufous-orange flashes in the primaries and in the tail feathers. The black bill sometimes shows a bit of pale color at the base.

• Behavior

  Great Crested Flycatchers are sit-and-wait predators, sallying from high perches (usually near the tops of trees) after large insects, returning to the same or a nearby perch. Their clear, rising reep calls are a very common sound in summer.
• Habitat

  Great Crested Flycatchers live in woodlots and open woodland, particularly among deciduous trees. On its tropical wintering grounds it occurs in similar semiopen habitats. Migrants can occur in nearly any wooded or shrubby habitat.