SOUTHEASTERN CARIBBEAN BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY

Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalists' Club         Southeastern Caribbean Bird Alert         Trinidad and Tobago Rare Bird Committee

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis)

Adult male at Galera Point, Trinidad, 9 April 1999. Photos © by Floyd Hayes. Second record and first confirmed for Trinidad. Note the dark throat and breast contrasting sharply with the white belly and vent; in the slightly smaller Gray-breasted Martin (P. chalybea), which is resident in Trinidad, the dark throat and sides merge gradually into the whiter belly. For further information on identification, click here. This species was first found in Trinidad at Galera Point on 14 April 1999, when William Murphy, Floyd Hayes and Carol Ramjohn found a male that was present until 15 April 1999. The male photographed above was present at Galera Point from 9 April to 27 May 1999. Two males were present at Galera Point from 11 February to 7 April 2001. These birds appear to be vagrants from Tobago, where a resident population exists, rather than migrants from the Lesser Antilles. For further details on these records see: Murphy, W. L., and F. E. Hayes. 2001. First records of Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis) for Trinidad, with comments on its supposed migration to South America. Pitirre 14:61-62.  [abstract / resumen]