All,

Out of my own curiosity and an interest in helping out, I sent a couple of
notes out regarding the Assateague Martin to some South and Central American
contacts of mine, including Paul Smith in Paraguay who led me to Floyd Hayes
who spends a lot of time in Trinidad.  Paul Smith is an expert in mainly
South American avifauna and is currently writing a field guide to the birds
of Paraguay, and Paul gives a brief bio on Floyd below.  Their comments seem
to point that the bird may be either a Caribbean Martin or even a Cuban
Martin, and that the photos are not quite distinct enought to tell for sure.
Both were fine with me posting their comments.  Their comments are pasted
below FYI -

Thanks,

Jay Keller,
Arlington, VA

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Comments of Paul Smith, Paraguay:

Jay
Feel free to share my comments if you wish. These photos arent great but it
doesnt look like a brown-chested martin to me - though I couldnt say what it
is for certain either! The rump is quite obviously pale in this bird which
wasnt mentioned in the description. Juvenile brown-chesteds tend to be
square-tailed and this bird does look square-tailed in many of the photos,
though the description clearly says that it was more forked tailed than the
Tree Swallows that were around - which suggests that it is an artefact of
the photo. However a juvenile brown-chested that far north at this time of
year is an impossibility i think. Ive never seen Caribbean Martin and only
odd Purple Martins down here but I would say these photos and the
description dont fit Purple. I would presume the same comments as for
Brown-chested regarding timing and moult etc would also apply to
Grey-breasted Martin (though Im not entirely sure of the breeding range
further north of Grey-breasted) and would think that possibly Caribbean is
the most likely candidate out of those four - though like i say i dont know
Caribbean Martin in the field so would not be able to identify that species
with certainty from photos of this quality. I suggest sending these photos
to the ID Frontiers group to see what people come up with there. I am a bit
handicapped by never having birded North America so Im not entirely familiar
with all the other possible candidates! Try sending it to Floyd Hayes as
well, he is based in Trinidad and probably knows Caribbean Martins pretty
well, hes an American who also spent a lot of time in Paraguay so will be
more up to speed with all the possibilities!
Looking forward to seeing your Paraguay list!
Best wishes
P

--------------------------

Comments of Floyd Hayes:

Jay,

Thanks for your message. Unfortunately the photos are
not very clear so I don't think the bird can be
identified from the photos with certainty, although
good field descriptions might help.

Judging from what I can see in the photos, the dark
breast appears brownish and the dark does not appear
to be extensive on the sides, so it looks more like a
female Caribbean Martin or Cuban Martin than a male
Caribbean Martin. The dark chest appears to more
squared than is typical for a Caribbean Martin. Check
out my photos of Caribbean and Gray-breasted Martins
at:

http://www.geocities.com/secaribbirds/idcaribbeangray-breastedmartin.html

Unfortunately I am inexperienced with Cuban Martin and
know very little about it.

In summary it's an interesting bird and it could
possibly be a female Caribbean Martin or Cuban Martin,
but I don't think the bird can be identified with
certainty based on these photos alone.

Floyd E. Hayes
Associate Professor of Biology
Department of Biology, Pacific Union College
1 Angwin Ave., Angwin, CA 94508, USA
Tel: 707-965-6401; Fax: 707-965-7577
Website: http://www.geocities.com/floyd_hayes