Some help with my Uruguayan hirundines (1 Viewer)

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Garrulous Jay

Well-known member

• May 26, 2017

• #1

Hi BF community! I have some swallows and Martins to sort out that I saw in Uruguay in February. In my book it tells me that the possibilities are likely to be: brown chested Martin, (Progne tapera), grey breasted Martin, (Progne chalybea), blue and white swallow, (Pygochelidon cyanoleuca) white rumped swallow (Tachycineta leucorrhoa) and rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis). Anyone care to tell me for sure what my photos are? I have lots and will publish them in two batches on successive days. So this is the first five:

 

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G

Garrulous Jay

Well-known member

• May 27, 2017

• #2

Here's my thoughts:
1 Chilean swallow or maybe white rumped but I can see no trace of the tell-tale white head stripe.
2 Brown chested martins but what the heck is that totally black-looking head and throat in the upper bird. Can't see that mentioned in any of my books - on ANY Uruguayan species. Maybe just a trick of the light?
3.Blue and white swallow
4.Brown chested martin
5. White rumped swallows with the head stripe showing in the sitting bird and the white rump in the flying bird.

 

T

THE_FERN

Well-known member

Opus Editor

• May 27, 2017

• #3

Not 100% sure about 1: think I could see the slight hint of a white mark above the bill.
2: grey-breasted martins. Upper bird has a lot of blue but it's not unusual
Think the others are probably correct

 

G

Garrulous Jay

Well-known member

• May 27, 2017

• #4

Thanks. I must defer to your experience which can only be greater than mine (=0)!

 

G

Garrulous Jay

Well-known member

• May 28, 2017

• #5

I think the only other one I might have captured is grey-breasted Martin. but all my books seem totally hopeless at distinguishing them from brown-chested. Can anyone tell me what to look for?

 

T

THE_FERN

Well-known member

Opus Editor

• May 28, 2017

• #6

Why don't you try the link I suggested before?

The Cornell neotropical birds site (can Google that) doesn't have every species but it's a good starting point and it does have grey (gray) breasted Martin

 

T

THE_FERN

Well-known member

Opus Editor

• May 28, 2017

• #7

And while I'm at it, brown-chested Martin is brown, and grey-breasted... ...isn't

 

G

Garrulous Jay

Well-known member

• May 28, 2017

• #8

Sorry "The _ Fern", but I have just looked at your recommended Cornell site and whereas the text does indeed reiterate your last (sarcastic?) statement, that the bird is not brown but blue black, scroll down to the "Multimedia" section at the bottom and look through a selection of their images and you will see that you are wrong and that I indeed, am correct in my supposition that the two are hard to tell apart because in certain plumages grey-breasteds are brown and look remarkably like brown chested, to me anyway. So still not there yet. How do I tell a brown phase grey-breasted from a brown-chested?

 

T

THE_FERN

Well-known member

Opus Editor

• May 28, 2017

• #9

I think perhaps your monitor is making them look browner than they generally appear in the field. The description suggests that the closest they come is "flanks are occasionally brown tinged" for juvenile grey-breasted.

Basically, the point is that this is as good a description as you're going to find. Although you can't tell because the brown-chested description is incomplete, brown-chested is a smaller bird (about a cm less). You could get this information from the handbook of the birds of the world website, another good source:

http://www.hbw.com/species/brown-chested-martin-progne-tapera

In the field, ID of most individuals should be clear-cut...