Brown-chested Martin / Bruinborstzwaluw

Brown-chested Martin (Progne tapera)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
P.t. tapera © Steven Wytema	P.t. fusca © Foek Chin Joe	P.t.tapera and P.chalybea © Foek Chin Joe
P.t.tapera © Jan Hein Ribot	© Dominiek Plouvier	P.t.fusca early arrival March 30 2020 © Dominiek Plouvier
June © Dominiek Plouvier	June © Dominiek Plouvier	P.t.tapera © Armida Madngisa nature guide
still large groups in Sept. © Dominiek Plouvier	Sept 19, 2022 fusca © Dominiek Plouvier	P.t.fusca very late: October 2, 2022 © Dominiek Plouvier
French Guiana, P.t.tapera © Matthias Fernandez

The Brown-chested Martin is rather common on the savanna in Suriname, where it captures flying insects. Suriname has two subspecies, one breeding and rather common in the savanna and one coming from the south in the months that there is winter overthere.
Photo of a Brown-chested martin, made by Steven Wytema in 2005 in Suriname. Then follow two photos by Foek Chin Joe at Paranam in June 2007 of Brown-chested Martins resting between Grey-breasted martins at a sleeping place with tens of thousands of martins (and sometimes more). The first one of these Photo 2) is from the south (Progne tapera fusca with the brown pectoral band) and the third picture shows the local breeding swallow (Progne tapera tapera white throat, broad brown chestband and white belly) sitting next to a Grey-breasted martin (at right in the picture). Ribot made photo 4 at Nieuw Amsterdam and Mathhias Fernandez saw his bird in French Guyana.
Dominiek Plouvier noticed half June 2022 that he saw more Brown-chested than Grey-breasted Martins in Commewijne the last weeks. He made the video (P.t.fusca from the south). Then he saw them staying till at least the beginning of October. The second video he made in October with two other martins present.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Brown-chested Martin © ;	Video recording of a Brown-chested Martin © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Progne tapera
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Hirundinidae, 14 in Suriname
Dutch:	Bruinborstzwaluw
English:	Brown-chested Martin
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Golondrina de rio
Portugese (Brazil):	Andorinha-do-campo
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Hirondelle tapère

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 192 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The 3 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 192 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The 3 reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).