Though I had spent two hours exploring Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area this morning, it was not until I returned home that I encountered our latest summer resident. Stepping onto the deck, I heard the loud, distinctive call of a great crested flycatcher, ringing through the neighborhood.
Having wintered in the Tropics, from South Florida and Mexico to northern South America, these large, attractive flycatchers summer and breed throughout the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, favoring deciduous or mixed woodlands. Feasting primarily on flying insects, they also glean them from foliage and consume berries as well. Nests are placed in tree cavities and great crested flycatchers are known to use snakeskin among their nesting materials.
Once a forest bird, these flycatchers have adapted well to the open woodlands of suburbia and the isolated groves of golf courses and farm country. Indeed, their calls, like those of other summer songbirds, amphibians and insects, characterize the chorus of the season, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast.
Having wintered in the Tropics, from South Florida and Mexico to northern South America, these large, attractive flycatchers summer and breed throughout the eastern U.S. and southeastern Canada, favoring deciduous or mixed woodlands. Feasting primarily on flying insects, they also glean them from foliage and consume berries as well. Nests are placed in tree cavities and great crested flycatchers are known to use snakeskin among their nesting materials.
Once a forest bird, these flycatchers have adapted well to the open woodlands of suburbia and the isolated groves of golf courses and farm country. Indeed, their calls, like those of other summer songbirds, amphibians and insects, characterize the chorus of the season, from the Great Plains to the Atlantic Coast.
