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Distribution and migration phenology of Purple Martins (Progne subis) in Brazil

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Abstract

Purple Martins (Progne subis) are Neotropical migratory birds that breed across North America and spend their nonbreeding season in South America, primarily Brazil. They have been in a long-term population decline over the last five decades. There are several suggested causes for the decline, but to begin understanding the conservation needs of this species, it is necessary first to fill existing knowledge gaps about migration timing, distribution, and habitat use in Brazil. The presence of this species across most of Brazil makes it difficult to keep track of seasonal or long-term changes in its distribution without careful, widespread data collection. Citizen science offers an emerging opportunity to address knowledge gaps of roost distribution and phenology. Here, we compiled Purple Martin records from citizen science platforms, scientific collections, and bibliography to produce an overview of the distribution and phenology of the species in Brazil. It is present in most Brazilian states, but records are concentrated in the Amazon region. Previously known large roosts in southeast Brazil, especially in the state of São Paulo, have decreased in number of individuals over the last decade. Most records are from September to April, although phenology varies with latitude. In the equatorial region (5°N–5°S), which is crossed by all populations that come to Brazil, the number of reports shows strong temporal variation, probably related to the timing of migration in different populations.

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The data used in this study are available in the Supplementary material.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to all researchers who publish their work with Purple Martin records, to all museums that, in some way, made data available, and to all the citizen scientists who contribute to the collaborative databases that make studies like this possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Butantan, Museu Biológico, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Clarissa O. Santos, Jonathan M. Branco, Luciano M. Lima & Erika Hingst-Zaher

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Jonathan M. Branco

  3. Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology Department, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Maria C. T. D. Belotti

  4. Programa de Pós-Graduação Interunidades em Biotecnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Pedro Abilleira

  5. Purple Martin Conservation Association, Erie, PA, USA

    Joe Siegrist

  6. Disney’s Animals Science, and Environment, Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA

    Jason Fischer

  7. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    Mario Cohn-Haft

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  1. Clarissa O. Santos
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  2. Jonathan M. Branco
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  3. Maria C. T. D. Belotti
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Contributions

Clarissa O. Santos: conceptualization-lead, data curation-lead, formal analysis-lead, investigation-lead, methodology-equal, writing—original draft-lead, writing—review and editing-lead.

Jonathan M. Branco: conceptualization-lead, investigation-supporting, writing—original draft-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

Maria C. T. D. Belloti: conceptualization-supporting, data curation-lead, formal analysis-lead, investigation-supporting, methodology-equal, writing—original draft-supporting.

Pedro Albilleira: conceptualization-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

Joe Siegrist: writing—original draft-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

Jason Fisher: writing—original draft-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

Luciano Moreira Lima: conceptualization-supporting, writing—original draft-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

Mario Cohn-Haft: writing—review and editing-supporting.

Erika Hingst-Zaher: conceptualization-supporting, investigation-supporting, methodology-equal, writing—original draft-supporting, writing—review and editing-supporting.

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Correspondence to Clarissa O. Santos.

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Communicated by Marcos Santos.

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Santos, C.O., Branco, J.M., Belotti, M.C.T.D. et al. Distribution and migration phenology of Purple Martins (Progne subis) in Brazil. Ornithol. Res. 29, 213–222 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43388-021-00071-0

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