Purple martin

The purple martin (Progne subis) is the largest North

American swallow. These aerial acrobats have speed and
agility in ight, and when approaching their housing, will
dive from the sky at great speeds with their wings tucked.

Description and taxonomy

Purple martins are a kind of swallow, of the genus Progne.

Like other members of this genus, they are larger than
most of the other swallows. The average length from bill
to tail is 20 cm (7.9 in). Adults have a slightly forked
tail. Adult males are entirely black with glossy steel blue
sheen, the only swallow in North America with such coloration. Adult females are dark on top with some steel
blue sheen, and lighter underparts. Subadult females look
similar to adult females minus the steel blue sheen and
browner on the back. Subadult males look very much like
females, but solid black feathers emerge on their chest
in a blotchy, random pattern as they molt to their adult
plumage.[2]

Fledglings in Oklahoma, United States

east, where purple martins are almost entirely dependent

on such structures. As a result, this subspecies typically
breeds in colonies located in proximity to people, even
within cities and towns. This makes their distribution
patchy, as they are usually absent from areas where no
This species was rst described by Linnaeus in his Sys- nest sites are provided. Western birds often make use of
tema naturae in 1758 as Hirundo subis.[3] The species of natural cavities such as old woodpecker holes in trees or
this genus are very closely related, and some view the pur- saguaro cacti.[2][4]
ple martin, gray-breasted martin, snowy-bellied martin, The purple martin migrates to the Amazon basin in winand southern martin, as a superspecies.[4]
ter. Its winter range extends into Ecuador[6] but does not
seem to ascend far up the Andean foothills.

1.1

Subspecies

The rst record of this species in Europe was a single bird

on Lewis, Scotland, on 56 September 2004, and the sec P. s. subis, is the nominate form, with the typical ond was on the Azores on 6 September 2004.
features of the species, breeds in eastern and midwestern North America.

P. s. hesperia of the Mexico and the southwestern 2 Conservation status

United States, is distinguished primarily by its nesting habits.
Purple martins suered a severe population crash in the
P. s. arboricola of western mountains is large with 20th century widely linked to the release and spread
of European starlings in North America. Starlings and
females paler on underparts.
house sparrows compete with martins for nest cavities.
Where purple martins once gathered by the thousands,
by the 1980s they had all but disappeared. [7]
1.2 Distribution and habitat
Purple martins breeding range is throughout temperate
North America. Their breeding habitat is open areas
across eastern North America, and also some locations
on the west coast from British Columbia to Mexico.[5]
Martins make their nests in cavities, either natural or articial. In many places, humans put up real or articial
hollow gourds, or houses for martins, especially in the

2.1 Relationship with humans

The population of eastern purple martins (nominate form
P. s. subis) is dependent on articial martin houses of
wood or aluminum and fake plastic gourds, supplied by
individuals and organizations fond of the bird. This tra1

3 BEHAVIOR
somewhat staggered, with arrivals in southern areas such
as Florida and Texas in January, but showing up in the
northern United States in April and in Canada as late as
May. Males usually arrive at a site before females.[2]
Fall migration is also staggered, as birds head south when
the breeding season is over. Some birds leave as early as
July and others stay as late as October. Martins generally
migrate over land, through Mexico and Central America.
When not breeding, martins form large ocks and roost
together in great numbers. This behavior begins just prior
to the southern migration and continues on the wintering
grounds.[2]

Adults around gourds and nest boxes in a garden in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States

3.2 Breeding

Nest boxes at Nepean Sailing Club in Nepean, Ontario, Canada

Eggs and small chicks in a nest box in Oklahoma, United States

dition was in place even before the population crash; Native Americans are said to have hollowed out gourds and
erected them for this purpose. The situation requires ongoing maintenance, as European starlings and house sparrows compete with martins as cavity-nesters, and will
ght with martins over nest sites. Starlings have even
been known to kill purple martins, especially nestling
young, and house sparrows have been known to evict purple martins from their nests. Thus, unmonitored purple
martin houses are often overtaken by more aggressive,
non-native species.[2] Purple martin proponents are motivated by the concern that the purple martin would likely
vanish from eastern North America were it not for this
assistance.[8]

Males arrive in breeding sites before females, and establish their territory. A territory can consist of several potential nest sites. After forming a pair, both the male and
female inspect available nest sites. This process is complicated by the fact that articial nest sites could be houses
with many rooms, clustered gourds, or single gourds. The
nest is made inside the cavity of such articial structures
and retains a somewhat at appearance. The nest is a
structure of primarily three levels: the rst level acts as a
foundation and is usually made up of twigs, mud, small
pebbles and in at least a few reported cases, small river
mollusk shells were used; the second level of the nest is
made up of grasses,ner smaller twigs; the third level of
construction composing the nest, is a small compression
usually lined with fresh green leaves where the eggs are
3 Behavior
laid. Three to six eggs are laid, and the female is the
main incubator, with some help from the male. Purple
3.1 Migration
martins are generally known to raise only a single brood.
Fledging, when the young leave the nest, occurs at about
Wintering in South America, purple martins migrate to one month, after which the parent continue to feed the
North America in spring to breed. Spring migration is edgling young.[2]

3.3

Diet

[9] Helms IV, Jackson A., Bridge, Eli S., Godfrey, Aaron P,
and Ames, Tayna. (2015): The Purple Martin Update.
Fire Ant Exterminators. 24-27.

Purple martins are aerial insectivores, meaning that they

catch insects from the air. The birds are agile hunters and
[10] Peterson (1980): p.202
eat a variety of winged insects. Rarely, they will come to
the ground to eat insects. They usually y relatively high,
so, contrary to popular opinion, mosquitoes do not form a
large part of their diet. [2] Recent research, however, does 6 References
indicate that the Purple Martin feeds on invasive re ants
(Solenopsis invicta) and that they may make up a signi American Ornithologists Union (AOU) (2000).
cant portion of their diet.[9]
Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists Union Check-list of North American
Birds. Auk 117(3): 847858. DOI: 10.1642/0004-

3.4

Vocalization

8038(2000)117[0847:FSSTTA]2.0.CO;2

Purple martins are fairly noisy, chirping and making

sounds that have been described as chortles, rattles, and
croaks.[4] The various calls are said to be throaty and
rich and can be rendered as tchew-wew, pew pew, choo,
cher, zweet and zwrack. The males have a gurgling and
guttural courtship song, a dawn song, and even a subsong
used at the end of the breeding season.[4][10] Tapes of purple martin song are sold to attract martins to newly established birdhouses.

See also
Tree swallow - many similar characteristics
Barn swallow - these swallows may be attracted to
purple martin houses" and thus confused with purple martins

Footnotes

[1] BirdLife International (2012). "Progne subis". IUCN Red

List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International
Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
[2] Brown, Charles R. Purple Martin (Progne subis), The
Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.).. Ithaca:
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
[3] Linnaeus (1758
[4] Turner, Angela K.; Rose, Chris (1989). Swallows & Martins. Boston: Houghton Miin. pp. 7, 123126. ISBN
0-395-51174-7.
[5] See AOU (2000) for details.
[6] Guayas and Orellana Provinces:
(2006).

Cisneros-Heredia

[7] Hunn, Eugene S. (1982). Birding in Seattle and King

County. Seattle Audubon Society. pp. 107108. ISBN
0914516051.
[8] http://purplemartin.org/main/history.html

(Latin) Linnaeus, Carolus (1758). Systema naturae

per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines,
genera, species, cum characteribus, dierentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.
Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii). p. 192.
Cisneros-Heredia, Diego F. (2006). Informacin
sobre la distribucin de algunas especies de aves de
Ecuador. ["Information on the distribution of some
species of birds of Ecuador"]. Boletn de la Sociedad
Antioquea de Ornitologa 16(1): 7-16. [Spanish
with English abstract] PDF fulltext
Doughty, Robin and Rob Fergus (2002). The Purple
Martin. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-29271615-5

Peterson, Roger Tory (1980). A Completely New

Guide to All the Birds of Eastern and Central North
America (4th ed.). Houghton Miin, Boston. ISBN
99975-1-436-X
Stokes, Donald and Lillian & Brown, Justin L.
(1997). Stokes Purple Martin Book. Little, Brown
& Co (Canada) Limited. ISBN 978-0-316-81702-8

7 External links
Purple Martin Conservation Association
The Nature Society purple martin monthly publication and information
The Purple Martin Society, NA
Photo of purple martin with dragony
Stamps (for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) at
bird-stamps.org
Purple Martin videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
How to Help Purple Martins - National Audubon
Society

7
Purple Martin at Hinterlands Whos Who (Environment Canada & The Canadian Wildlife Federation)
Purple Martin Bird Sound at Florida Museum of
Natural History
Purple Martin photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
Purple martins at Lake Murray, South Carolina

EXTERNAL LINKS

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