Progne modesta
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The Galapagos martin (Progne modesta) is an Endangered species of bird in the family Hirundinidae, the swallows and martins. It is endemic to the Galápagos Islands. The Galapagos martin was originally described by John Gould in 1837 as Hirundo concolor. However, that binomial had earlier been assigned to another species, the dusky crag martin, so following the principle of priority Gould renamed it Progne modesta in 1838. For much of the twentieth century many authors treated the Galapagos martin, Peruvian martin (P. murphyi), and the southern martin (P. elegans) as conspecific.
The Galapagos martin is monotypic. The Galapagos martin is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The sexes are dimorphic. Adult males have a glossy dark violaceous steel-blue body. Their wings and tail are black with a faint bluish or greenish sheen. Females have a mostly black head and upperparts with a sooty crown and rump and a strong violaceous steel-blue gloss on the back and scapulars. Their underparts are mostly dark sooty gray or grayish sooty with indistinct pale tips on the feathers. Both sexes have a brown iris, a black bill, and brownish black or dusky brown... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Galápagos Martin sighting in Galápagos Islands on a given day, based on 507 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 61st most-seen of the 114 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–July and November–December
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Galápagos Martin in Galápagos Islands on a given day, against under 5% in January–February and August–October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Galápagos Martin sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Galápagos Islands, in our data
Galápagos Islands is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Galápagos Martin sightings: about 10% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Galápagos Martin is recorded against all the birds logged in Galápagos Islands (507 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.
