The Great Crested Flycatcher

Olde Florida has numerous Eastern Screech Owl boxes that are used every year by returning mothers. After the Screech Owls have utilized the nest for their current clutch, other birds sometimes “make themself at home.” This year a Great Crested Flycatcher once again moved into one of the boxes. 

The Flycatcher is easily identifiable by its unique nest construction and eggs. A very interesting aspect of the nest is it almost always includes a piece of snake skin lining. The snake skin is brought into the nest by the flycatcher as a natural predatory defense mechanism.

Great Crested Flycatcher Nest on Hole 17, Olde Florida Golf Club, 4/30/24

Both sexes help build the nest. They carry in large amounts of material, to bring the nest level closer to the entrance. The flycatcher nest is made of grass, weeds, strips of bark, feathers, or other debris, lined with finer materials such as pine needles.

The Great Crested Flycatcher usually lays five eggs that are creamy white and marked with brown, olive, lavender. Incubation is by female (13-15 days), but both parents bring food for nestlings. 

Adult Great Crested Fly Catcher Bringing Food, Hole 17, 5/16/24 

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 age of the young at first flight is about 12-18 days. The male defends nesting territory with loud calls, sometimes by fighting with other males. Nest sites are usually in the hole of a tree, either natural cavity or old woodpecker hole, but the flycatcher will also nest in artificial sites. 

Three of Five Hatchlings on Hole 17, 5/13/24

The species is known to forage by flying out from a perch to catch insects. They often hover momentarily while taking insects from foliage or twigs, or may catch them in mid-air.  The Flycatcher feeds on a wide variety of insects, including caterpillars, moths, butterflies, katydids, tree crickets, beetles, true bugs, and others. They also eat spiders, sometimes small lizards, and regularly eats fruits and berries. Small fruits may be a major part of diet in winter in the tropics.

To see and hear a Great Crested Flycatcher you can click this Link.