spacer

Purple Martins

South Miami, Florida

Purple Martins

This picture was taken in our back yard. Only the adult male Purple Martin appears purple, and only after his second year. Females and immature males have a lighter colored front.

The Purple Martin is one of our native songbirds. Ours fly in to south Florida at the end of January to raise four to six young. The range of our eastern subspecies (Progne subis subis) covers the entire United States east of the Rockies and even into central Canada. Those migrating to the northern end of that range arrive several weeks later. In early August ours all leave for the Amazon basin.

As cavity dwellers, they are threatened by exotics like the European Starling and the House Sparrow, who like to steal their nest sites. In this picture the male stands by with a dragonfly while the mother feeds another dragonfly to one of the chicks. Notice her foot is in the mouth of the other chick.

To order a print of this image, hit the button to the left. Before you do, you may want to check the maximum size estimates below.

Photographic details: Canon EOS 30D camera w/ EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens set at 360mm. Flash was not used. Camera was on f/14 for 1/800 sec (shutter priority) at ISO 800.

Print details: maximum size Medium Printed Estimated
  Fine Art Paper 11" x 14" 111/2" x 151/2"
  Canvas N/A 141/2" x 20"

Currently In Stock

Although we can print to your specifications any size up to the above limits to the nearest 1/16" with any mat and moulding combinations, we presently have none of these in stock.