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Sinaloa Martin | Progne sinaloae
Sinaloapurperzwaluw | Golondrina sinaloense
The Sinaloa Martin is a martin with a sharply defined white belly that breeds only in the Sierra Madre Occidental of western Mexico. Outside the breeding season it leaves the guide area; where it winters is unknown. It is a little-studied species.
Voice
Poorly described. Gurgling and chirping notes, similar to those of Purple Martin.
Recording: Ignacio Torres García — CC BY-NC 4.0 · converted to mono · iNaturalist
Identification
17–18 cm. Male glossy dark blue-purple above; throat, breast and flanks dark and glossy, belly and undertail coverts bright white and sharply demarcated from the dark breast. Wings and the forked tail blackish. Female dark greyish brown above with less gloss, throat and breast greyish brown, belly likewise white and sharply demarcated.
Confusion species
The male Purple Martin Progne subis is entirely dark; females of that species have a dirty white, faintly streaked belly without a sharp border and a pale collar. The male Grey-breasted Martin Progne chalybea has a white belly but a dull greyish-brown throat and breast without blue gloss; that species lives mainly in the lowlands.
Habitat
Canyons, cliffs and open pine-oak forest at middle elevations in the mountains, where it hunts high in the air over valleys and forest edges. Nests in rock crevices and tree cavities.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
Breeds in the Sierra Madre Occidental, from eastern Sonora and western Chihuahua south through Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit and Jalisco to about Michoacán. Outside the breeding season there are very few records; the species probably winters in South America.
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In the breeding season best searched for over canyons and wooded slopes in the Sierra Madre Occidental in Sinaloa and Durango, preferably in the morning. Martins over pine-oak forest there deserve a good look at the belly.
Conservation status
Vulnerable. The population is small and the breeding range limited; numbers, migration and wintering area are poorly known. Possible threats are logging and degradation of forest in the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Scientific name
Progne sinaloae | Nelson, 1898
Nelson described the species in 1898 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Progne was introduced in 1826 by Boie. Progne (also Procne) is the daughter of King Pandion of Athens in Greek myth, who was turned into a swallow; in Latin also a word for 'swallow'. sinaloae refers to the Mexican state of Sinaloa, where the species was discovered. The specimen the first description was based on came from Plomosas, Sinaloa, Mexico.