Progne subis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Martin sighting in Elk Island National Park on a given day, based on 41 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 108th most-seen of the 161 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May–June and August
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Purple Martin in Elk Island National Park on a given day, against under 5% in July and September–April, the lowest months. Those are among Elk Island National Park's wettest months, with about 85 mm of rain a month against 20 mm in December.
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.
13th of 37
Of the 37 parks where we can rate Purple Martin sightings, Elk Island National Park ranks 13th at under 5%. The best odds are in Isla del Coco National Park (Costa Rica, about 40%), Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 20%) and Saguaro National Park (United States, about 20%).
Same family: Hirundinidae
The closest relatives of the Purple Martin that you can see in Elk Island National Park (family Hirundinidae, Swallows and Martins) are Tree Swallow (about 30%) and Barn Swallow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Purple Martin is recorded against all the birds logged in Elk Island National Park (41 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
