Brown-crested Flycatcher

Of the three similar crested Flycatchers in the west, these birds are the largest. They are a common summer resident in the southwest, mainly in southern Texas and Arizona. The Brown-crested Flycatcher is conspicuous and aggressive in the nesting season. They arrive late in spring, after most other hole-nesting birds, and may have to compete for nest sites. Typically, they feed on large insects like beetles or cicadas, but they also have been seen catching Hummingbirds on occasion.

About Brown-crested Flycatchers

Before 1983, North American and Central American populations were known as Wied’s Crested Flycatchers. Since then, they have been categorized under 7 different subspecies. The distribution of the 7 currently recognized subspecies is complex and includes migratory and sedentary mainland and insular populations. Boundaries between adjoining subspecies can be either subtle or distinctive. Despite these seemingly incongruous aspects of the species’ status and distribution, geographic variation in appearance is only slight, and perhaps more importantly, vocalizations show even less geographic variation. Among the relatively similar-looking species of Myiarchus, voice plays a dominant role in how individuals recognize their own kind. Today, we will be delving into the rather complicated stories of these birds. We will be going over:

● Brown-crested Flycatcher Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Brown-crested Flycatcher Size, Eating Behavior, Habitat
● Brown-crested Flycatcher Range and Migration, Nesting

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Brown-crested Flycatcher Color Pattern

The upper parts of these birds are a drab brownish gray to olive-gray, with the face and the side of the neck gray as well. Their throat and breast match up with a pale gray, making way for a fairly abrupt transition to a yellow belly and under tail coverts. Brown-crested Flycatcher wings are dark gray-brown and include two pale wing bars, with secondary feathers that have edges of pale shades and primary feathers that have edges of rufous hues. Their tail is a dark brown, with inner webs of all but the central pair of retrices extremely rufous. The bill, legs, and feet are generally black, with the lining of the mouth a pinkish or a dull yellow. They have brown irises.

Juveniles look similar, but their upper wing coverts, upper-tail coverts, and the retrices of both are edged with shades of cinnamon and rufous. The inner secondary edges are a buffy lemon yellow and are slightly broader. Their underparts are far duller and paler in comparison to adult Brown-crested Flycatchers.

Description and Identification

The easiest way to identify these birds is through their loud, ringing whistles that permeate through their surroundings. These calls travel large distances and you can hear them at the forest edges, as well as in city parks, golf courses, and neighborhoods with many trees. Once you hear the calls, you can trace them to the perches from where the males sing. Although hard to spot, exposed perches can reveal flashes of pale and yellow chasing after insects from the very top of the trees. These birds are very large and are hard to miss once an observer manages to trace their calls back to the source.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Song

These birds have a wide vocal range, with basic vocalizations given by both sexes during daylight hours. Scientists categorize 4 basic calls, along with 8 additional calls that are not yet fully understood. Their simplest call is a brief, sharp whistle that steeply ascends in pitch as it continues. It is a series of different notes, generally rendered as “whit-whit-whit” or “huit, huit, huit”. It expresses moments of stress and excitement during confrontations with neighbors.

The most frequent call is a loud and piercing whistle that travels a considerable distance before ending with an abrupt consonant sound. It sounds like “whee-eep”. It most likely serves as a contact call between the sexes or between parents and the young. In some cases, it may also sound like a “churr” when the birds are foraging, whether they are on a perch or flying. Another harsh and raspy series of this call comes in several repeated notes of the previous call, rendered as “queer-queer-queer-queer”, with a reported series of 3 or 4 bursts. Low notes also help nestlings to accept food, a sound that is generally described as drawing a rusty nail from aboard. Females also give peeping sounds at the cavity entrance before entering to lay, and parents often exchange “ki-dee” calls when the female is about to enter the nest cavity to incubate.

Males alone give their unique calls at dawn during the breeding seasons, vocalizing a series of meticulous patterns these are the “dawn song” and “twilight song” in contemporary literature. The frequency is lower than the other calls with a good deal of variation in the pitch. It sounds like “wheerreep whee-uh” that is alternated and repeated.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Size

Adult Brown-crested Flycatchers are about 8 inches in body length and around 1.1 ounces in weight. They have long tails, short legs, and medium to long pointed bills. Their builds are slender, and they seem to be extremely lean. The head is more or less large, and their crests are short and bushy. They are some of the largest Flycatchers and are about the size of a Kingbird. There is little variation in size between both the sexes, with males being slightly larger than females.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Behavior

Few studies are available on the behavior of Brown-crested Flycatchers. They are so understudied that even details about how they move are sketchy. Brown-crested Flycatcher doesn’t walk, when they do their strides are rapid and direct when they are in flight. They also frequently engage in acrobatic aerial maneuvers when they are in pursuit of prey, engaged in territorial disputes, and during courtship chases.

These birds are relatively aggressive. During the breeding seasons, they were frequently chasing intruding males away from their territories. They may even try to encroach onto the territories of other Flycatchers, as there have been reports of Brown-crested Flycatchers getting chased away from the territorial Ash-throated Flycatchers. Physical attacks by these birds are also not rare, with observations on territorial males mounting on the intruder’s back while beating them with their wings occurring more than once. Threatening gestures also include fluttering and repeated snapping of the bills.

These birds are monogamous, like their relatives, the Great-crested Flycatchers. There are parallels between other Flycatchers and the Brown-crested Flycatcher.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Diet

These birds primarily feed on insects and other invertebrates, along with plant-based food like berries and other fruits. Their insect prey mainly consists of cicadas, moths, beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies, bugs, bees, wasps, flies, and other insects. They also consume anthropods like spiders if available. Brown-crested Flycatchers eat small lizards. They also catch and eat Hummingbirds when they can. They do not consume a lot of fruits and keep their diets mostly fixated on insects. However, they may feed on the fruit of saguaro when insect prey becomes limited. Chicks eat dragonflies, moths, and butterflies whole, but if they reject the food, the parents crush the insects and re-offer them.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Habitat

These birds live in sycamore canyons, saguaros, and river groves. Their Texan populations live in clusters in and around dry woodlands and groves of taller trees along streams and rivers. Farther west of their range, they also live in tall sycamores or cottonwoods along streams. They frequently inhabit lowlands. Open deserts, where giant saguaro grows, are a popular breeding location for these birds as they depend on naturally occurring or Woodpecker-made cavities to nest in.

Range and Migration

The Brown-crested Flycatcher breeds in open woodlands from southern California, southern Nevada, central Arizona, and southern Texas, southward to Argentina and Bolivia, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It is a permanent resident in most of its range, but individuals breeding in the United States retreat to Mexico or southern Florida during the colder months of the year. The limited population that actually migrates is considered to be short-distance migrants. In its United States range, these birds arrive mostly in May and leave mostly in August. In fall and winter, a few wander east along the Gulf Coast.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Lifecycle

After the breeding practices of the pair, the female lays 4–8 creamy white to pale buff eggs in her only brood of the year. Only the female incubates the eggs, with the incubation period lasting 13 to 15 days. After the chicks hatch, they are in a helpless state without down feathers or sight. However, by another 13 to 15 days they are ready to leave their nests. The age at which they first learn to fly is most likely between 12–18 days, after which they are considered to be independent.

Nesting

These birds can be found nesting in cavities. They tend to prefer natural cavities in dead trees but will use abandoned Woodpecker holes, nesting boxes, hollow posts, and even buckets, pipes, cans, and boxes of the required size if available. Both members of the pair scout for potential nesting cavities anywhere between 20 and 50 feet above the ground, but the females likely make the final selection.

Both members of the pair help build the nest within these cavities. They bring in large amounts of material to bring the nest level close to the entrance. The foundation of the nest is made of grass, weeds, strips of bark, rootlets, feathers, and other debris. The inner lining is then added, where they add finer materials that are softer and aid in firmly insulating the nest. They may also include a piece of snakeskin within the lining, sometimes substituting it with a piece of clear plastic instead.

Anatomy of a Brown-crested Flycatcher

Adult Brown-crested Flycatchers are about 8 inches in body length and around 1.1 ounces in weight. They have long tails, short legs, and medium to long pointed bills. Their builds are slender, and they seem to be extremely lean. Their head is more or less large, and their crests are short and bushy. They are some of the largest Flycatchers and are about the size of a Kingbird. There is little variation in size between both the sexes, with males being slightly larger than females.

Final Thoughts

The lowland riparian habitats that have traditionally been used by Brown-crested Flycatchers have suffered massive destruction or alteration due to flood control and water diversion efforts, clearing for agriculture and urban settlements, and the introduction of salt cedar, an invasive species. Losses of other suitable woodland and giant-cactus habitats have not been as dramatic, but threats that are directly related to urban and agricultural development are causes for concern. Overgrazing by livestock has also been threatening their numbers significantly, as it reduces the amount of prey that is readily available to them.

This species would greatly benefit from the long-term management for the reestablishment of extensive riparian zones along major rivers through natural regeneration, revegetation, and prioritized control of the introduced salt cedar. Their numbers throughout the continent are not too well-known, but they are one of the greatest pride of North America due to their sheer grandiose and majesty. The exact impact of these environmental changes has not been studied, but the decline in their numbers is extremely evident. As one of the only king-sized Flycatchers in North America, the need to prioritize their conservation is more crucial now than ever before.

Ornithology

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At the Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for Identifying Brown-crested Flycatchers

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Brown-crested Flycatchers are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Brown-crested Flycatcher Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Brown-crested Flycatcher. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders ForBrown-crested Flycatchers

There are many types of bird feeders. Bird feeders are a great addition to your backyard. Bird feeders will increase the chances of attracting birds drastically. Both kids and adults will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. There are a wide variety of bird feeders on the market and it is important to find the best fit for you and your backyard.

Bird Houses ForBrown-crested Flycatchers

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.