 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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3.48 (2.06 - 4.97)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Purple Martin sightings were strongly associated with human dwellings, which provided artificial nesting structures for their use. The colonies are hard to miss, and of the 510 atlas squares where Purple Martins were reported, breeding was confirmed in a full 57% (293) of the squares, the highest proportion for any widely-reported species. The probability of observation map shows how closely-associated they are with people with many towns and cities appearing as high probability areas, and higher probabilities in the central and southeastern Aspen Parkland and Moist Mixed Grassland ecoregions. Although they were largely absent from the boreal forest, a Purple Martin was observed at Buffalo Narrows Airport.
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
Purple Martins delight birdwatchers with their aerial acrobatics, lively chirping, and use of multi-cavity colony houses. The largest swallows in North America, they pursue insects with grace and agility to catch them on the wing. Purple Martins breed from southwestern British Columbia, central Alberta, and the Maritimes south to central Mexico; they winter in South America mainly in Amazonia and south-central Brazil (AOU 1998).
Purple Martins require nesting cavities or niches, traditionally supplied by old woodpecker holes in aspen and dead trees. However, since the 1940s nesting cavities have been increasingly supplied by Purple Martin colony houses on poles 1.5-3 m high in backyards and open spaces, ideally near a river, lake, or wetland. They will also use hollow gourds and single-cavity nestboxes.
The Purple Martin is a fairly common summer resident at resorts, at farmsteads, and in urban areas in the southern boreal region and parklands (Smith 1996), but it is now rare in its historical native habitats. However, "efforts to entice them to breed elsewhere in the grasslands, where they are rare even as transients, have met with limited success? (Smith 1996).
Original text by Tina Portman and Gerald Parent. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the Purple Martin in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. Purple Martin in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=PUMA&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]
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