Gray-breasted Martin
Progne chalybea
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderPasseriformes (Perching Birds)
- FamilyHirundinidae (Swallows and Martins)
- GenusProgne (New World Martins)
- SpeciesProgne chalybea (Gray-breasted Martin)
About the Gray-breasted Martin
The grey-breasted martin (Progne chalybea) is a large swallow from Central and South America. In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the grey-breasted martin in the second volume of his Ornithologie based on a specimen collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. He used the French name L'hirondelle de Cayenne and the Latin name Hirundo Cayanensis. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The grey-breasted martin was subsequently described by the French polymath, the Comte de Buffon, in 1779 and by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1783. Latham used the English name "Chalybeate swallow" but neither Buffon nor Latham introduced a scientific name.
The German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin included the grey-breasted martin when he revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1789. He placed it with the swallows in the genus Hirundo and coined the binomial name Hirundo chalybea. The specific epithet chalybea is Latin meaning "steely". The grey-breasted martin is now one of nine species placed in the... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Gray-breasted Martin in Pico Bonito National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Pico Bonito National Park
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Mangrove Swallow
Tachycineta albilinea
Bank Swallow
Riparia riparia
Barn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
Montezuma Oropendola
Psarocolius montezuma
Brown Jay
Psilorhinus morio
Clay-colored Thrush
Turdus grayi
Great Kiskadee
Pitangus sulphuratus
Social Flycatcher
Myiozetetes similis
Spot-breasted Wren
Pheugopedius maculipectus
Olive-backed Euphonia
Euphonia gouldi
Lesser Greenlet
Hylophilus decurtatus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.