birding-aus

Martin Identification

To: <>
Subject: Martin Identification
From: John Graff <>
Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 16:30:04 +1030
As others have said, Welcome Swallows have a deeply forked tail whereas both 
martins have only a slight fork and Welcome Swallows have a dark rump (compared 
to dull white in Tree Martin and white in Fairy Martins).

The main ways I separate Tree & Fairy Martins are
1) Crown colour. Tree Martins have a dark crown (I would call it a dark 
blue/black) while Fairy Martins have a red-brown crown. I've sometmes found 
that this difference can be surprisingly difficult to pick up, particularly 
when the birds are in flight.
2) Call: I'm not very good at describing calls, but Tree Martins have sort of a 
twittering call whereas Fairy Martins make more of a buzzing, churring sound. 
Someone else out there may be able to help out with better descriptions of the 
calls. I find the calls are particularly useful when separating the two martins.

Hope that helps

Cheers
John Graff


________________________________

From: 
To: 
Date: Sat, 17 May 2008 10:57:00 +0800
Subject: Martin Identification


Hi everyone,

for a while now, I have been having trouble identifying between Welcome 
Swallow's, Fairy and Tree Martins. Can someone please help me out?

Max.
Sydney...

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