Great-crested Flycatcher A flash of yellow overhead in the leaves catches my attention. It’s not one of the usual yellow-colored birds. Too big to be a Warbler or a Goldfinch. No, it’s a Great-crested Flycatcher, a summer resident locally . Great-Crested Flycatcher males and females look identical, but the juveniles have white edging on the feathers. Here’s a young one in the Old Burying Ground… This species of flycatcher doesn’t walk or hop around on the ground, but flies from place to place instead. As the name “flycatcher” implies, these birds catch insects in mid-flight. On a headstone in the Old Burying Ground At the end of the summer, the Great-crested Flycatcher leaves North Carolina to spend the winter in Florida or maybe Mexico, Cuba, or the tropics of South America. Similar bird… In the fall, a look-alike relative, the Western Kingbird, arrives in this area. The throat area on the Kingbird is white and the tail feathers are black with a distinctive white outer edge… White chin… White tail feathers… Western Kingbird Yellow bird, up high in banana tree, Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me Did your lady frien’ leave de nest again? Dat is very sad, make me feel so bad. You can fly away, in the sky away, You’re more lucky dan me. Wish dat I were a yellow bird, I fly away wid you, But I am not a yellow bird, So here I sit, nothin’ else to do. From “Yellow Bird” (Traditional Creole Song) Here are some other interesting birds to meet… The Birds of Black >>King of Birds? Eastern Kingbird >>Two Woodpeckers and a Sapsucker >>Encountering Green Herons >>Fence Sitters >> Birds in the Old Burying Ground >> Hard to See >> Please follow and like: Share this:FacebookXLike this:Like Loading... Post navigation Swallows Up-closePainted Bunting