Great Crested Flycatcher

How to find it

Listen for the loud rising whistle first, then look for the bird. It spends much of the day very high in the leafy canopy, so scan the treetops and forest edges. Check open perches, often a dead branch with foliage behind it, where it sits bobbing its head before darting out after prey. Fruiting trees and shrubs are also worth watching in winter. The Pacific slope, especially dry forest, is the best place to start.

How to recognise it

Among the Myiarchus flycatchers of Costa Rica this is the largest and brightest, about 20 cm long. Look for these marks:

- Throat and breast grey, with olive on the breast sides

- Belly yellow

- Back much greener than on Brown-crested Flycatcher

- Bill blackish, with a pale horn base on the lower part

- Legs black

- Mouth lining orange

Adults of the species have brownish upperparts, a long rusty tail and a bushy crest, and the sexes look alike. These general marks describe the species across its range.

What it sounds like

Recording: Allan Castillo, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This flycatcher catches insects in flight or picks them from foliage on short flights. It also eats berries. It is usually solitary and may defend a territory in winter.

It hunts from an open perch, often a dead branch with foliage behind it, darting out to catch prey and often bobbing its head while it scans. It spends much of the day very high in the leafy canopy.

Where it lives

It lives in the canopy and at forest edges. It also uses old secondary forest, partly cleared areas, tall scrub, tree plantations and gallery forest.

Winter residents are found from the lowlands to about 1,400 m, and sometimes higher. Passage migrants range from the lowlands up to 1,850 m. The Pacific slope holds the most birds, and they are probably most common in tropical dry forest, though they use many other habitats.

When to see it

Birds arrive in late September or early October and leave between mid and late April, sometimes in early May.

Similar birds

A single call note is easy to confuse with the call note of Acadian Flycatcher. In dry forest it shares the habitat with other similar Myiarchus flycatchers. Brown-crested Flycatcher is paler overall, with a less yellow belly and a weaker contrast between throat and belly. Its lower bill is mostly black, while the Great Crested has a fleshy base, though these marks are hard to see in poor light.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The AOCR name is Copetón Viajero, with the nickname Tontillo. Costa Rican lists also use Tontillo for the Dusky-capped Flycatcher, so the nickname covers several look-alike Myiarchus flycatchers.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a migrant (M): a common winter resident on the Pacific slope, uncommon on the Caribbean slope and a common passage migrant on both, and BirdLife International lists it as Least Concern.

Photography tips

It often sits on an exposed high perch, such as a snag, and dashes out after insects. It forages higher in the canopy than other flycatchers, so a long lens helps.