The Great Crested Flycatcher is a bird you usually hear before you see — a loud, rising "wheep!" ringing down from the leafy canopy of a summer woodland. When it does show, it is a handsome flycatcher with a gray throat, olive back, lemon-yellow belly, and cinnamon-rufous flashes in the wings and tail. It hunts high in the trees, sallying out to snatch insects, quite unlike the low-perching phoebes and pewees.
Alone among Michigan's flycatchers, this species nests in cavities — old woodpecker holes, natural hollows, and nest boxes — and it has a famous quirk of weaving shed snakeskin (or, these days, crinkly plastic) into the nest lining. It breeds in deciduous and mixed woods across the state from mid-May through August, then heads to the tropics, where it rounds out its insect diet with a heavy dose of fruit.
Hunts insects high in the canopy, catching butterflies, moths, beetles, katydids, and other large insects in flight or gleaning them from foliage. It also eats considerable fruit and small berries, especially in late summer and on its tropical wintering grounds.
That ringing, upward-slurred "wheep!" is the Great Crested Flycatcher, one of the most recognizable summer sounds of Michigan's deciduous woods. The bird is often high in the canopy and easier to hear than to spot.
Yes. Great Crested Flycatchers frequently weave shed snakeskin into their cavity nests, and will substitute crinkly materials like clear plastic wrappers when snakeskin is not available.
It can. As Michigan's only cavity-nesting flycatcher, it accepts roomy nest boxes with an appropriately sized entrance, as well as old woodpecker holes and natural tree hollows.
Other birds you might be looking at instead.
Pick the park — it takes less than ten seconds.
Start typing the bird's name, then pick it from the list.
Suggest a birding spot to add to the map. I'll review it before it appears.
Thanks! Your suggestion has been sent for review.
Found something wrong or out of date? Tell me what to fix — it goes straight to my inbox. (No email needed.)
Thank you — your note is on its way. I appreciate the help keeping this accurate.