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Fairy Martin Petrochelidon ariel Scientific name definitions

Angela Turner
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2004

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Field Identification

11 cm; 9–14 g. Has forehead, crown and nape rufous-brown, face grey-brown, back glossy deep blue with few whitish streaks, rump dull white or buffish-white; wings and tail brownish-black, tail slightly forked; underparts dull white, fine streaks on throat and upper breast, grey-white undertail-coverts; underwing-coverts white, tinged brown. Distinguished from very similar P. fluvicola by somewhat duller crown, plainer unstreaked face, from P. nigricans by rufous (not blue) crown and nape. Sexes alike. Juvenile is duller, browner, with buffy feather edges.

Systematics History

See P. fluvicola. Birds from NW Australia described as race conigravi, but indistinguishable from those in rest of range. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

Australia (excluding Groote Eylandt, much of SW, and Tasmania); scattered winter records in New Guinea.

Habitat

Open areas, such as open woodland and grassland, usually near water.

Movement

Some post-breeding movements. Partial migrant in SE Australia; large movement to N parts of Australia after breeding. Adults, especially males, generally return to same breeding site in successive years. Recorded N to islands in Torres Strait, Lesser Sundas and New Guinea, in S in Tasmania, and in New Zealand.

Diet and Foraging

Diet includes mayflies (Ephemeroptera), termites (Isoptera), bugs (Hemiptera), beetles (Coleoptera), flies (Diptera), hymenopterans (including parasitic wasps and ants) and moths (Lepidoptera). Forages in flocks; flight slow, usually high up. Also recorded as feeding on moths on a lawn.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Song is a high-pitched twittering; contact call “chrrr” or “prrrt-prrrt”.

Breeding

Aug–Feb; two broods, sometimes three. Socially monogamous, but some extra-pair paternity (in one study, 29% of 70 broods and 14% of nestlings). Colonies, usually of a few tens of pairs (8–30 in one study), sometimes to several hundred pairs, nests built close together; breeding asynchronous within and between colonies. Nest-construction by both sexes, average times in two studies 15 and 30 days, nest enclosed, with tube entrance, made of mud pellets, lined with grass and feathers; attached mainly to artificial site such as culvert, bridge, mine shaft, pipe, wharf, verandah or under house eaves, less often cliff, cave, riverbank or tree, and usually over water. Clutch 2–5 eggs, average in studies in Victoria and New South Wales 3·5; incubation by both sexes, 45% by male, period in Victoria 12–18 days (mean 13·7), in New South Wales 11–17 days (mean 13·8); both also feed nestlings, fledging period in Victoria 17–32 days (mean 22·1), in New South Wales 14–30 days (mean 22·5), duration increasing with larger brood size. Success in Victoria 1·8 fledglings per complete clutch, pairs produced 0–8 fledglings per season, in New South Wales brood size 3·3 early in season and 3 late in season; failure rate high during prolonged cold, wet weather through parents deserting nest, adult mortality also occurs in such conditions; other causes of failure include nest falling down, flooding, nest predation by kingfishers (Alcedinidae), and competition with House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) and pardalotes (Pardalotus).

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Widespread and common, especially in E. May have benefited from increased availability of artificial nest-sites and increase in amount of grassland habitat over the last century. Was fairly regular breeder in Tasmania in 19th century, and unoccupied nest found there in 1968. Several sightings in New Zealand in past few decades, with a few possible records of breeding (e.g. nests found in 1977/78 and a family group in 1983).
Distribution of the Fairy Martin - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Fairy Martin

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Turner, A. (2020). Fairy Martin (Petrochelidon ariel), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.faimar2.01
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