Caribbean Martin

Progne dominicensis

A graceful aerial feeder found over a wide variety of open habitats, especially near water, including marshes and towns. Often seen on exposed perches including power and telephone lines in villages. Commonly found in flocks of up to twenty birds, sometimes mixing with other swallows and martins. Note the male’s diagnostic glossy purple-blue plumage and snow-white belly. Females and immatures are similarly patterned, but have brown mixed with the blue and are probably not safely separable from Cuban Martin. Female and immature Purple Martins are very similar, but they often have a scaly breast and finely streaked belly, with less contrast between belly and chest. Notably, Cuban and Purple Martins are not present in this species’ range from March to September. Calls include a harsh “churr,” a buzzy “zwick-zwick,” and a musical buzzy burbling.

识别特征

Adult Caribbean martins are 18.5 cm in length, with a forked tail and relatively broad wings, and weigh 40 g. Adult males are a glossy blue-black with contrasting white lower underparts. Females and juveniles are duller than the male, with grey-brown breast and flanks and white lower underparts.

分类信息

In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the Caribbean martin in the second volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola. He used the French name L'hirondelle de S. Dominigue and the Latin name Hirundo Dominicensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The Caribbean martin was subsequently described by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon, in 1779 and by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1783. Latham used the English name "St Dominico swallow" but neither Buffon nor Latham introduced a scientific name.<p>The German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin included the Caribbean martin when he revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1789. He placed it with the swallows in the genus Hirundo and coined the binomial name Hirundo dominicensis. The specific epithet dominicensis is from Santo Domingo. The Caribbean martin is now one of nine species placed in the genus Progne that was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

学名
Progne dominicensis
命名信息
(Gmelin, JF, 1789)
Passeriformes
Hirundinidae
Progne

分布与栖息地

It breeds throughout the Caribbean, except on Cuba and Isla de la Juventud, where it is replaced by the related Cuban martin (P. cryptoleuca). It is closely related to the aforementioned species, as well as the Sinaloa martin (P. sinaloae) to which it used to be considered conspecific. There are sight records from mainland Central and South America, and most birds appear to migrate to the South American mainland. A single bird was recorded in Key West, Florida, on May 9, 1895 (AOU 2000).

繁殖区
NA : Caribbean is.
非繁殖区
SA?
迁徙
Complete migrants

行为

The Caribbean martin nests in cavities in banks and buildings, or old woodpecker holes. 3-6 eggs are laid in the lined nest, and incubated for 15 days, with another 26-27 to fledging. Just as the purple martin, this species may compete with other passerines for nesting cavities. In particular, the main foe is the house sparrow [1] in urban areas, where they mostly use man-made structures, whereas in more rural locations Picidae holes in coconut trees are favored, and there is less competition with the sparrows.<p>Caribbean martins are gregarious birds which hunt for insects in flight. Their call is a gurgly chew-chew.

保护状况

种群趋势
rising

照片

分布

鸟叫声

其他鸟类

Black-throated Coucal

Black-throated Coucal

Centropus leucogaster

A large forest coucal with a black throat and chest and a white belly. Western populations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and extreme western Uganda are sometimes separated as Neumann’s Coucal based on their smaller size, but look very similar to eastern Black-throated Coucal populations. The similar Gabon Coucal, which has a rufous belly, replaces Black-throated in Central African forests. Black-throated typically gives a deep, bubbling, booming call series of up to 20 notes that fall and then rise in pitch. This call can be heard day or night. 

Woodland Pipit

Woodland Pipit

Anthus nyassae

Large pipit with a streaked back and buffy outer tail feathers. Found in broadleaf woodland, especially miombo and Zambezi teak. Spends most of its time on the ground, but will perch in trees, especially when flushed up. The song consists of three cheeping notes, repeated over and over. Virtually identical to Long-billed Pipit, but has different range and habitat. Similar to Buffy and Plain-backed Pipits, but has streaking on the back, and found in different habitat.

Barred Laughingthrush

Barred Laughingthrush

Ianthocincla lunulata

Pale brown laughingthrush with a pale face, black barring on the back, and a blue-gray wing panel. Handsome but shy and inconspicuous, foraging quietly on the ground and in shrubbery and thickets. Very similar in appearance to the rarer, more range-restricted, and dark-throated White-necklaced Laughingthrush. Note Barred’s pale, relatively unmarked throat.

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