Purple Martin
Progne subis
Aves
COMMON
Stats
- Lifespan
- 5-14 yrs
- Size
- Small
- Diet
- Insectivore
- Activity
- Diurnal
- Social
- Colony
- Biome
- Temperate grassland
- Range
- North America
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Speed
- Status
- Common
About
The Purple Martin is the largest swallow in North America, often seen soaring through the sky catching flying insects. They can eat hundreds of insects in a single day and readily nest in birdhouses provided by people.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA small clutch of speckled eggs is incubated in a cup nest, turned and kept warm by the parent.
- 2.hatchlingA pink, blind hatchling is fed by its parents in the nest, gaping its bill at every visit.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges from the nest, learning to fly and to forage close to its parents.
- 4.adultFully grown with adult plumage and song.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Hirundinidae
- Genus
- Progne
- Species
- Progne subis