Progne subis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
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. The dark blackish-blue feathers have an iridescent sheen caused by the diffraction of incident light giving them a bright blue to navy blue or deep purple appearance. In some light, they may even appear green in color.
They are migratory, with their breeding range including all of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, as well as the coastal Pacific Northwest, Baja California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Most make a brief stopover in the Yucatán Peninsula or Cuba during pre-breeding migration to North America and during post-breeding migration before reaching their overwintering site in South America.
They are known for their speed, agility, and their characteristic mix of rapid, flapping, and gliding flight patterns. When approaching their nesting site, they will dive from the sky at great speeds with their wings tucked, just like the peregrine falcon does when hunting smaller birds.
In 1750 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Chicago | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Martin sighting in San Antonio on a given day, based on 1,807 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 34th most-seen of the 255 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Martin in San Antonio on a given day, against under 5% in September to January, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Purple Martin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 29 cities where we can rate Purple Martin sightings, San Antonio has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Austin (United States, about 20%) and Houston (United States, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Martin is recorded against all the birds logged in San Antonio (1,807 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
