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Learn about Purple Martin (hesperia): explore photos, sounds, and observations collected by birders around the world.
- Purple Martin (subis/arboricola)
Learn about Purple Martin (subis/arboricola): explore...
- Purple Martin (subis/arboricola)
Adult males are iridescent, dark blue-purple overall with brown-black wings and tail. Large and chunky swallow. Females/immatures are duller, with variable amounts of gray on the head and chest and a dingy lower belly. Note gray collar around the neck.
Find This Bird. In eastern North America during the summer, look for Purple Martins around martin houses, the miniature condominiums that many people put up in yards. The birds are more challenging to find in the West, where they nest in woodpecker holes in dead snags.
Graceful in flight, musical in its pre-dawn singing, this big swallow is one of our most popular birds. Almost all Purple Martins in the east now nest in birdhouses put up especially for them. Martin housing has a long history: some Native American tribes reportedly hung up hollow gourds around their villages to attract these birds.
Learn about Purple Martin (subis/arboricola): explore photos, sounds, and observations collected by birders around the world.
The purple martin (Progne subis) is a passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is the largest swallow in North America. Despite its name, the purple martin is not truly purple.
In the East, dark, glossy-blue males and brown females will peer from the entrances and chirp from the rooftops all summer. In the West, martins mainly still nest the old-fashioned way—in woodpecker holes. Our largest swallows, Purple Martins perform aerial acrobatics to snap up flying insects.
