Bird Guide

Dusky-capped Flycatcher vs Great Crested Flycatcher

Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer)

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

Myiarchus tuberculifer

Small18 gForest

The dusky-capped flycatcher is 16 to 18.5 cm (6.3 to 7.3 in) long and weighs 14 to 27 g (0.49 to 0.95 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies M. t. tuberculifer have a sooty brown crown and face; the crown feathers form a slight crest. Their upperparts are mostly dark greenish olive-brown with browner uppertail coverts. Their wings are mostly dusky with thin dull white edges on the secondaries and thin buffy-white edges on the inner primaries. Their greater and median wing coverts have buffy brown edges. Their tail is dark grayish brown. Voice: The dusky-capped flycatcher's vocalizations vary across its range. In Mexico its dawn song "consists of a long series of "sentences" made up of 2 or 3 elements". In much of Central America it is "a short, sharply whistled whit, a long drawn, plaintive, whistled wheeeu, and an emphatic whistle cut short". In much of South America it is "plaintive whistles alternated with huit notes".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: JUAN ANTONIO ALONSO DE JUAN · CC BY 4.0
Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)

Great Crested Flycatcher

Myiarchus crinitus

Small32 gWoodland

Adult great crested flycatchers usually measure between 17–21 cm (6.7–8.3 in) in length with a wingspan of around 34 cm (13 in). This bird usually weighs between 27–40 g (0.95–1.41 oz). There is no sexual dimorphism. All adults are brownish on the upperparts with yellow underparts; they have a long rusty brown tail and a bushy crest. Their throat and breast are grey. Males will sing a three-part song composed of two short whistles: a wheerreep followed by a higher-pitched whee, and a soft low churr.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Recording: Jonathon Jongsma · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: no rights reserved, uploaded by Chrissy McClarren and Andy Reago · cc0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dusky-capped Flycatcher and Great Crested Flycatcher.