Galápagos Martin

About the Galápagos Martin

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 →