Great Crested Flycatcher
(Myiarchus crinitus)

Overview

Summary

© Dan Busby
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The Great Crested Flycatcher is a cavity nester that inhabits open deciduous and mixed woods across southeastern and central Canada. The Breeding Bird Survey indicates that the population in Canada has shown a moderate decrease since about 1970. Causes of the decline remain unclear.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1970-2016)
• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Birds of North America Online

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

General nesting period in Canada

Conservation and management

The Great Crested Flycatcher prefers open woodlands and edges, and is therefore thought to have benefited from forest clearing and fragmentation in previous decades (Miller and Lanyon 2014). However, threats to this secondary cavity-nesting species include competition for nest sites from other cavity-nesting birds and mammals, and the elimination of dead snags through forestry and suburban forest management (Miller and Lanyon 2014). Local populations have benefited from the maintenance of nesting and foraging habitat (e.g., snags and dead wood), and with the introduction of nest boxes (Miller 2010).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Miller, K.E. 2010. Nest-site limitation of secondary cavity-nesting birds in even-age southern pine forests. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122(1):126-134. Miller, K.E. 2010. Nest-site limitation of secondary cavity-nesting birds in even-age southern pine forests. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 122(1):126-134. (Link)
• Miller, K.E., and W.E. Lanyon. 2014. Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), version 2.0. In: The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. Miller, K.E., and W.E. Lanyon. 2014. Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), version 2.0. In: The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. (Link)