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Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)
© Peter Wallack

Length: 7-9 in.
Habitat: forests; clusters of trees.

This handsome bird announces its presence with a loud, clear wheep or rolling crrreep. The Great Crested Flycatcher always nests in a cavity—an abandoned woodpecker hole, a hollow tree, or a nest box. If the hole is too deep, the birds will fill it up from the bottom with debris before beginning the nest of twigs. They may add a cast-off snakeskin or a strip of shiny plastic, which is sometimes left hanging outside the cavity. In dry parts of the West the smaller Ash-throated Flycatcher (Myiarchus cinerascens) often nests in a hole in a large cactus.