what is the term used to describe a species in which males and females look distinctly different?

Purple Martin is a language all its ain.  Subadult, adult, SREH; these are all terms that are unremarkably used in the martin world, but those new to Purple Martins may experience a little lost.  Here are some of the more commonly used terms and their definitions.

Aberrant: Term used to describe an singular plumage, structural feature, or behavior in an animal or plant. Many martin landlords mistakenly believe that they have 1 or more than Regal Martins that render to their colony sites, twelvemonth after twelvemonth, withaberrant white wing feathers. In reality, all Regal Martins accept patches of white flank feathers that stick up conspicuously backside the wings during certain conditions of feature erection.

Accidental: Term used to depict a bird or bird species when it shows up outside of its normal range. The Purple Martin was recorded as anaccidental species in the country of Alaska when it was collected there about several hundreds of miles north of its normal breeding range. In contrast, when it is observed in Alberta, it is not an accidental species, but rather a summer resident.

Accipiter: A genus of hawks characterized past having brusque, rounded wings, long tails, and long legs. In Due north America, there are 3 species - the Northern Goshawk, the Cooper's Hawk, and the Abrupt-shinned Militarist. These raptors feed mostly on birds and are therefore, superbly adapted for the speed and agility necessary to outmaneuver and catch such fast-moving prey. Although all three species ofAccipiter hawk are known to prey on Regal Martins, should you witness a daytime attack on your martins by a hawk, information technology most likely was perpetrated by the Cooper'due south or the Abrupt-shinned Hawk

Adaptation: In evolutionary biology, whatsoever physical structure, physiological process, or behavioral pattern that makes an organism more fit to survive and reproduce in its environment. The somewhat-stiffened tail and long curved toenails of Purple Martins are structuraladaptations enabling them to cling vertically to the trunks of trees, just as woodpeckers practise. Before native American Indians offered gourds to martins for nesting, and earlier the early colonists offered martins houses, Majestic Martins nested almost exclusively in old nest holes excavated in trees by woodpeckers. Today, tree-nesting martins can only exist found in western North America, in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Mexico.

Addled: An egg that has become rotten or the living contents of which take died or been destroyed. Purple Martins commonly roll theirbefuddled eggs out of their nest cups into the nest periphery, or out onto the porches of their houses.

Developed: The term for birds in an age class older than that of the subadults. Regal Martins are not consideredadults until two years after their hatching year. Run into "SY," "ASY," and "subadult."

Aerial Insectivore: An brute that feeds on insects caught while it and the insects are in flight. Because the Majestic Martin is anaerial insectivore, it is susceptible to starvation during the types of prolonged weather conditions that prevent the flight of insects, such equally snow, high winds, cold temperatures, and/or heavy rains.

Air Sacs: The thin-walled sacs extending from the lung bronchi of birds, which fill up much of their body cavities. Their office is to increment respiratory volume and efficiency, and also to decrease body weight, adaptations that help make flight possible. In some highly-aerial birds, such equally frigatebirds, theair sacs extend even into the outermost hollows of the wing basic.

Albinism: An abnormal lack of paint in animals that results in white or whitish external features. The feathers of total albinos are completely white, while partial albinos have white feathering in only some areas. Total albinos have pink irises considering blood vessels at the surface of the eyes go visible in the absence of other pigments. Most albinos are the result of a genetic abnormality, are present at birth, and tin be passed on to offspring.Albinism is not extremely rare in Purple Martins - every year a few fledglings are reported somewhere, but they rarely survive their first year of life because they are harassed and so severely by other martins.

Albumen: The gelatinous "white" of a bird's egg, whose function is to absorber and protect the yolk.

Altricial: Term used to describe immature birds that are totally helpless (usually featherless, with eyes closed, and totally dependent on their parents) for a period after hatching. Contrast this withprecocial young. At hatching, Purple Martin nestlings arealtricial. Their eyes don't open until they are nearly 8 days old, they don't get a roofing of body feathers until about 12 days of age, and they are unable to continue their ain body temperatures up without the brooding of their parents until they are about xv to 20 days onetime.

Alula: A small group of feathers attached to the kickoff "finger" (at the bend) of the fly. Their function is to reduce turbulence and drag, and also help with breaking and steering. Purple Martins have threealula feathers on each wing.

Apteria: Areas of a bird'due south skin from which no contour feathers grow. Apteria are sometimes covered by down feathers. People are ofttimes surprised to learn that Purple Martin's haveapteria, since they appear to be completely feather covered, but this is because the feathers overlap these naked areas of skin.

ASY: Bird banding terminology for "After second year." This is a bird in its 3rd (or greater) calendar year of life.ASY Purple Martins are distinguished by having an adult plumages, which they acquire in Brazil during their second winter at that place. See "adult," "subadult," and "SY."

Auriculars: The group of feathers that cover a bird'south ear openings about the center of its "cheeks." They are as well known as "ear coverts." In some bird species, the color or pattern of the auriculars are a field marking because they contrast with the rest of the face up. Nevertheless, in Regal Martins, theauriculars are indistinguishable with the rest of the face.

Aves: The Latin word for "bird" and as well the proper name of the form of animals that consists exclusively of birds. Purple Martins are in the courseAves, the order Passeriformes, the family Hirundinidae, and the genus Progne.

Avian: Refers to birds. Feathers are a uniquelyavian characteristic.

Aviary: Typically a large, enclosed facility where birds are kept in captivity, just are allowed to fly freely. In other words, a zoo for birds. For a number of years, the bird house, oraviary, at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, had an totally-albino Regal Martin in captivity.

Available Male: A nonbreeding, male Purple Martin. Typically these are subadult males that were unable to attract a breeding female either because there aren't enough females to become around (due to a skewed sexual activity ratio) or considering their claimed territory/cavity is not to any female's liking. Bachelor male Purple Martins spend their summers trying to attract an unpaired female person to their territories or nest, and besides roaming effectually, visiting several local colony sites, hoping to concenter a widowed female for a late nesting attempt.

Banding (Ringing-UK): The placement of a numbered metal band on the leg (or less commonly) wing of a bird in an effort to individualize the bird and thereby notice certain facts of its life history. To legally band Royal Martins (or any species of native wild bird) a person must accept both state and federal birdbanding permits.

Bathing Behavior: Purple Martins bathe in two, distinctly unlike, ways; splash bathing and rain bathing. Sometimes, when in the vicinity of a body of water, martins volition wing low almost the water, slow their airspeed into a stall, and repeatedly bounce off the surface, wetting their abdomen feathers. Then they fly back to the colony site, perch, and preen. This issplash bathing. But when there is a light rain, martins breast-stroke by sitting out on wires, branches, or martin house perches, exposing themselves to the precipitation, while preening and shuffling their feathers. Based on the exuberance of the accompanied singing, martins seem to savor a low-cal rain. This israin bathing. Both types of bathing behavior are quite contagious in martins. In one case 1 private does it, many others practise also. Martins do not bathe in bird baths.

Bill: Another name for a bird's bill. Thebeak of the Purple Martin is shiny blackness in colour and has a shape typical of those species adapted to catching flying insects (i.eastward., wide and flattened).

Brooding: The behavior by parent birds of "sitting on" their nestlings in club to warm them, conceal them, or shade them. Because nestling Purple Martins are hatched in a state of complete nakedness and don't acquire a coat of feathers until they are about two weeks old, the adults spend a great deal of timebrooding their young to continue them warm.

Brood Patch: An expanse of highly-vascularized, featherless skin that develops on the abdomen of birds during the breeding season that functions to facilitate heat transfer between the body of the incubating (or heart-searching) parent and the eggs (or nestlings). In martins, only the female develops a brood patchbecause she is the only parent with incubation responsibilities. A male person martin volition sit on the eggs and young, just he is only insulating them.

Brood Reduction: The strategy by which parent birds adapt their reproductive output to the current conditions of the environment. Almost female person birds lay the maximum number of eggs they can successfully raise in a skillful year, and then sacrifice some of their eggs or young if conditions turn out to exist less than ideal. Brood reduction can take many forms, from siblicide (siblings killing siblings), to kicking out selective egg, to subtle neglect of runts by parents. This strategy protects parents against losing their entire brood should conditions for rearing their young plough poor. This reduction of breed size is adaptive and really helps parents fledge the maximum number of healthy young in whatever giving season.

Carnivore: An organism who has a diet comprised of living animals. Majestic Martins arecarnivores.

Carnivorous: The term used to describe the diet of an organism who eats living animals. Strictly speaking, Purple Martins arecarnivorous, since insects are animals. More specifically, Purple Martins are insectivorous. Run across "insectivorous."

Chicken Hawk: The colloquial name used to refer to whatever of the hawks presumed past the uneducated to habitually attack poultry yards. Although, all bird-eating hawks recognize an easy repast when they see 1, and may occasionally take a chicken, none specialize on poultry.

Claw: The horny construction at the ends of the toes in birds, adapted for a whole host of functions, depending on the species. Purple Martins have long, decurvedclaws (toenails), which is an adaptation for clinging to vertical surfaces, such as at the entrances holes of the old woodpecker nest cavities they historically used for nesting sites (and yet do in the western portion of their breeding range.)

Cloaca: The concluding enlargement of the digestive tract in birds, reptiles, amphibians, and many fish, through which solid wastes, urine, and the products of the reproductive system all pass prior to defecation, egg laying, or copulation. Information technology opens merely below the tail of birds and is also known equally the vent. In humans, of class, the digestive passage is completely separate from the urinary and genital passages. When copulating, male Purple Martins merely contact the female'scloacawith theirs for equally brusque a duration every bit a fraction of a 2nd, which is long plenty to successfully transfer their sperm to the female'southward reproductive tract.

Clutch: All of the eggs laid and incubated by a given bird during a unmarried convenance attempt. The Regal Martin typically lays aclutchof 3 to 6, pure white eggs. In rare instances, a female person will lay 7 or more eggs.

Clutch-initiation Engagement: The date on which the starting time egg of a clutch is laid. The earliest recordedclutch-initiation date for whatever martin nest studied at thePMCA's Edinboro, Pennsylvania research site is the 12th of May.

Colonial Nester: A bird species that nests in colonies. Purple Martins arecolonial nesters.

Colony: A convenance assemblage of birds. Amartin colony is just a random aggregation of unrelated birds attracted to a common breeding site. It is not an assemblage of birds that travels or functions as a group. Individual martins get in in spring, and depart in late summer, independently of each other. At the colony site, individual martins aggressively compete with each other for nest cavities and mates. They in no way help or cooperate with each other. A person has acolony of Imperial Martins (and is officially a "martin landlord") when they accept two or more pairs convenance in the nesting compartments they offering.

Complete Paternity: Males who accept not been cuckolded by their mates and are related, genetically, to 100% of the offspring hatched from the eggs in their nest, laid by the female person to which they are paired. Encounter "Fractional Paternity" and "Zero Paternity."

Conservation: The wise use of natural resource, including birds and other organisms, whether for humanitarian reasons or to prevent the extinction of valuable and/or aesthetically desirable forms. ThePurple Martin ConservationAssociation is a non-profit organization devoted entirely to theconservation of Purple Martins.

Contiguous Porches: Porches on sure martin house designs that connect adjacent cavities. Such designs are bad for martins in that they let older nestlings from one compartment to wander into another compartment with younger nestlings to monopolize incoming food, thus starving their hosts. Such martin house designs also allow males to set larger territories, thus excluding other breeders. Houses with many holes sharing a common porch take lower occupancy rates and fledging rates as a outcome. Encounter "Porch Dividers."

Copulation: The physical human action of mating. In the Purple Martin, as with nearly species of birds,copulation is accomplished by the male climbing onto (or landing on) the back of the female, and so both birds making contact with their exposed cloacas. The male quickly ejaculates his semen and dismounts. In martins, the unabridged process lasts just a couple seconds. In birds, the average number of spermatozoa in a single ejaculation is about iii billion, which is approximately 10 times that of human'south. The sperm swim up the oviduct where the ova await fertilization. The sperm from a unmarried copulation can remain alive in the oviduct and go on to fertilize ova for up to a month.

Courtship: An early stage in the breeding bicycle, starting time with the male and female person birds of a given species coming together, and ultimately leading to pair germination and copulation. In the Majestic Martin,courting begins when a male gives his advertizing display to a prospective female. The male martin flies upwards in the air, dives to the house (or gourd), enters his compartment, turns and sings out of the entrance hole while simultaneously gaping to show his pinkish oral cavity lining. During early courtship, female person martins cull the very best male person/compartment combination they can. The "quality" of the compartment(due south) a male is able to claim and defend from other males is an indicator to the female person of his "quality" as a resources provider.

Coverts:  A set of minor feathers that covers other feathers.  Imperial Martins have tail, ear and wing coverts.   The coverts help to shine air catamenia over the wings and tail.

Crepuscular: In the context of animal behavior, the term means active in low levels of light, especially at dawn and dusk. Compare with "diurnal" and "nocturnal." No Northward American bird species is exclusively crepuscular, but some owls and nighthawks go agile or conspicuous in the twilight hours earlier sunset and dawn. Purple Martins arecrepuscularin the sense that the males fly up into the predawn heaven to broadcast their dawnsong. They also fodder up to thirty minutes past sunset when they take a hungry brood of immature to feed.

Crissum: The triangular area of feathers on the undersurface of a bird between its vent (anal opening) and the base of its tail feathers. A martin landlord with a good pair of binoculars can tell which of his breeding female martins are subadults (yearlings) versus adults (older than a year) by getting a close await at the feathers of theircrissum. Adult females usually take conspicuous dusky edgings to many of their crissum feathers; subadult females take a nigh pure white crissum.

Dawnsong: A vocal that adult (ASY) male martins emit in flight loftier above their breeding sites during the pre-dawn hours of bound. It's adaptive function is thought to be the attraction of nocturnally migrating subadult (SY) males and females to the colony site. Past alluring more colony members, adawnsinging male person theoretically increases his opportunity of engaging in forced extrapair copulation, and therefore leaving more offspring during a single summer'due south breeding try.

Delayed Plumage Maturation: The genetically programmed filibuster in adult feather acquisition that is characteristic of several bird species. Both male and female Majestic Martins havedelayed plumage maturation and do not acquire their adult plumage until they are in their tertiary agenda year of life, which is their 2d potential breeding season. Considering of this, yearling (i.east., subadult) males clothing a very female-like plumage that confuses most martin landlords into thinking they take a shortage of males in their colonies or that ii females successfully bred and raised young together.

Desert: Regions of the world that receive less than virtually 10 inches of rainfall a yr. They are typically characterized past extremely hot daytime temperatures and have found types adapted to low moisture conditions. Many people mistakenly believe you demand to live near water to attract nesting martins. Not and then. Purple Martins thrive in the aridSonoran Desert of Arizona, where they nest in the well-insulated nest cavities excavated by the Gila Woodpecker and Gilded Flicker in the Saguaro cactus. Their only reliable source of water is the insects they swallow.

Dispersal: The movement of a young bird from the site where it hatched to the site where information technology volition brood. Natal dispersal is the permanent movement of young birds from their nascency sites to their own breeding locations. The tendency to stay near one's birthplace - called philopatry - increases the probability of breeding with near relatives, even siblings, and thus increases the take a chance of inbreeding. Conversely, dispersal promotes outbreeding.

Diurnal: The term means "agile during the day." Compare with "crepuscular" and "nocturnal." The Purple Martin, along with the vast majority of birds, arediurnal in their habits, although they practise some nocturnal migrating.

Ectoparasite: An organism that lives on the outside of some other organism to the detriment of the host. Because they are colonial cavity nesters (i.e., they nest in large groups where parasite manual is enhanced), that exhibit strong year-to-year site allegiance (they reuse the aforementioned nests from yr to twelvemonth, which allows parasites to build up in their nests), Purple Martins are plagued by many kinds ofectoparasites. The list includes several kinds of body and caput lice, nest mites, nasal mites, feather mites, fleas, blowflies, blackflies, and mosquitoes.

Egg Dumping: The deliberate laying of fertile eggs in some other bird's nest. Through some highly-sophisticated genetic testing, Dr. Eugene Morton of the Smithsonian Institution recently discovered that Purple Martins occasionally brood parasitize neighboring martins byegg dumpingin their nests. Egg dumping benefits the parasitic egg-layer, but costs the host egg-recipient in terms of wasted reproductive attempt.

Eggshell: The difficult, calcium shell, secreted past a bird's shell gland, that surrounds and protects its eggs (or ovums). The trounce of a bird's egg is a marvelous thing. It has to exist thin and porous plenty to permit oxygen in and carbon dioxide out, strong plenty non to break under the weight of the incubating parent(due south), yet weak enough that a nestling can crack its way out at hatching time. Because Regal Martins lay their eggs in the darkness of tree cavities, theireggshells take never needed to evolve camouflaging colors or patterns, and are pure white like virtually cavity nesters.

Egg Molar: A small, hard protuberance on the tip of the pecker that develops in the embryos of all birds, and helps them break out (i.due east. hatch) from the eggshell. Newly-hatched Purple Martins have a white, calcareousegg tooth on the upper tip of their beaks that falls off a few days after hatching.

Entomologist: A scientist who studies insects.

Exoskeleton: The hardened outer body layer of insects and other arthropods that functions both as a protective covering and as a skeletal attachment for muscles. For dust, Purple Martins feed their nestlings broken glass, metal fragments, quartz, sand, eggshell, and oystershell. This grit enables the nestling'due south gizzard to pulverize the armor-likeexoskeletons of the beetles and other hard-bodied insects they are fed.

Fallout Shelter: A pole-mounted structure used to replace prematurely fledged nestling martins by martin landlords who don't accept accessible martin housing, or who don't go on written records. Parent martins will simply feed young that are up off the footing, safe from ground-habitation predators. The all-time place for such immature, however, is back in their ain nest.

Fecal Sac: The white, gelatinous sac into which the wastes of nestling birds are excreted as an adaptation to help keep the nest more than germ-free. Parent martins consume their nestlings'fecal sacs during the first few days of their lives. As the immature grow, parent martins switch to carrying the sacs from the nest in their beaks and dropping them. One time the immature are big enough, they defecate out the entrance hole.

Fertilization: In birds, as in mammals, this is the merging of the male'due south and the female's reproductive cells (sperm and ova). In birds, this takes place in the upper end of the female'south oviduct, following copulation. Come across "copulation."

Fledge: The term used to describe the behavior by which a nestling bird leaves the nest nether its own power. At the moment when a nestling martinfledges, information technology is commonly escorted on its beginning flight by many of the other birds in the colony.

Fledgling: The term for a young bird from the time it offset leaves the nest until it is contained of all parental intendance.Fledgling Imperial Martins go on to be fed outside of the nest by their parents, for upward to two weeks and typically render to their nest each nighttime to sleep.

Folklore: Inaccurate scenarios passed down through the generations to aid explain natural phenomenon. For case, information technology is pure myth andfolklore that migrating martin flocks send "scouts" ahead to find suitable housing, who then return south (in some cases, clear back to Brazil) to guide their colonies back. The truth is that scouts are just the first martins to arrive dorsum in bound to the colony site they bred the previous year. Once they arrive, they practise not get out, they stay put to defend their territories against afterward-arriving martins. The myth got started, no doubt, considering as martins work their way homeward, they will use housing along the way as overnight "motels." As soon as the weather facilitates migration, they continue north. Soon, nevertheless, the main wave of martin migration arrives at the "motel" site, giving the illusion that the watch returned with a flock.

Forced Extrapair Copulation: When a male person animate being forcibly copulates with a female other than his own, for the purpose of fertilizing her eggs, leaving her (and usually unknowingly, her mate) to heighten his young. Adult male person Purple Martins ordinarily engage in numerousforced extrapair copulations(FEPC'due south) with the mates of the subadult males convenance at their colony sites.

Gizzard: The highly muscular, 2nd enlargement in a bird's digestive tract that, together with the showtime enlargement, functions like the man stomach

Gourd: The fruit of some plants in the familyCucurbitaceae, which have difficult, durable, shells and are suitable for the fashioning of birdhouses later they have been properly dried. It was a popular custom among some tribes of Native American Indians, to hang upward hollowed-outgourds for martins to nest in. Today, martins will too nest in plastic and ceramic gourds.

Grit: Small pieces of rock, trounce, or other difficult substances ingested by birds to assist the gizzard in the process of digestion. The muscular activeness of the gizzard, together with the abrasive action of thegrit, assist martins grind downwards the difficult, chitinous, exoskeletons of the beetles, dragonflies, and other insects they eat. A gizzard with its grit is analogous in function to a mammal'south oral cavity having teeth for the purpose of food pulverization.

Haematophagous: Means "claret eater." Several of the parasites that feed off the Regal Martin arehaematophagous parasites. For example, the blowflies, nest mites, blackflies, mosquitoes, and bedbugs.

Haemoproteus prognei: The Latin or scientific name of a microscopic parasite unremarkably found in the claret of Imperial Martins.

Hallux: The outset digit or "big toe" of a bird's human foot. In the Majestic Martin, as in virtually species of birds, thehallux is the hind toe, and opposes the 3 others that point forrard. Merely not all families of birds have four toes and some groups lack a hallux birthday.

Hatch: The act of breaking out of the eggshell by the embryo. Purple Martin chickshatch after about xv to 17 days of incubation.

Hatching Success: Compare with "Nesting Success"

Home Range: The total expanse within which a bird inhabits while resident in a given place. One time established at a colony site, Purple Martins provender for nutrient over ahomerange of approximately 5 to 10 foursquare miles.

Hovering: A type of flight in which the bird remains stationary in midair, usually accompanied by the rapid beating of the wings. Majestic Martins ofthover in the airspace immediately in front of their nest compartments if for any reason they accept to hesitate earlier landing. They also hover when in a strong headwind, they have a naught ground speed.

HY (Hatching Yr): Bird banding terminology for "Hatching-yr." This is a bird in its outset calendar year of life. AnHY-U is a fledgling (juvenile) Purple Martin of unknown sex activity.

Hyperphagic: A behavioral term meaning "eating a lot" used to describe what migratory birds go before their twice almanac migration. Purple Martins gethyperphagic in late summer to fatten up before migration.

Incubation: The process past which parent birds heat their eggs by sitting on them, so that the young volition develop and hatch. Incubation in the female martin does not brainstorm until the next-to-the-last egg is laid. While the female person martin sits on her eggs engaged in incubation, her mate will sometimes bring food to her at the nest.

Incubation Patch: Come across "breed patch."

Insectivore: An organism who has a diet comprised of insects. Purple Martins areinsectivores.

Insectivorous: The term used to depict the nutrition of an organism who eats insects. The Venus Flytrap, the Imperial Martin, the Indiana bat, the praying mantis, and the bullfrog, all haveinsectivorous diets.

Interspecific: Term that means "between 2 or more dissimilar species." The Royal Martin is suffering intenseinterspecific nest-site competition with both the introduced English House Sparrow and European Starling.

Intraspecific: Term that means "within one species." In the Purple Martin,intraspecific nest-site competition (which is contest betwixt or amidst Purple Martins for nesting compartments) is one of the major causes of porch squabbles.

Introduced Birds: Birds that have been released by man into (and take subsequently become established in) regions where they are not native. The introduction of nearly all non-native (i.eastward. exotic) organisms is an ecologically harmful effort. In North America, both the European Starling and the English House Sparrow areintroduced birds whose introduction and spread accept been extremely detrimental to our native birds.

Iridescence: The rainbow-like play of colors exhibited by the feathers of certain bird species, caused by the scattering of light rays reflected from the construction of these unique feathers. The plumage of the developed male Purple Martin is ablaze with purplish-blue, iridescent feathers.

Iris: The office of an creature'southward middle that is pigmented, surrounding the dark educatee. It is made up of muscle fibers that control the size of the student and thus the amount of light allowed to enter the eye. Theiris of Purple Martins is dark brownish.

Kleptoparasitism: Stealing from one fauna by some other. Purple Martins are notoriouskleptoparasites.During the absence of porch neighbors, Purple Martins sometimes enter adjacent compartments tokleptoparasitize nesting fabric, which they remove and then take back to their own nests. Older, pre-fledged martin nestlings also wander out of their compartments, onto the contiguous porches, and into neighboring nests, where theykleptoparasitize younger nestlings of the food brought in past their parents.

Latin (Scientific) Names: TheLatin name of the Regal Martin isProgne subis. The Latin name of the martin'due south eastern subspecies isProgne subis subis, the desert subspecies,Progne subis hesperia,and the western mountainous raceProgne subisarboricola. The nominatesubis breeds throughout much of southern Canada, southward through the eastern United States, west to Montana and central Texas, fundamental parts of the Plains states, western Oklahoma, southern Florida, and the highlands of central Mexico. The raceHesperia replacessubis in Baja California, the lowlands of southern Arizona, western coastal Sonora and Tiburon Island. The racearboricola breeds in the western mountainous parts of North America.

Local Extinction: is the eradication of any geographically discrete population of individuals while others of the same species or subspecies survive elsewhere.

Martin Landlord: A person who supplies nesting houses or gourds for the Imperial Martin and successfully attracts some. We guess that nearly ane million enthusiasts in Northward America put up housing for martins, unfortunately, not all of them succeed in becomingmartin landlords.

Martin Lookout man: The very first, returning martin(south) observed in spring by the martin landlord at a colony site. Some landlords hold tight to the myth that scouts, after arriving, return to the southward (or clear back to Brazil) to guide the rest of their colony dorsum to the site. Really, long-term banding studies reveal that in nearly cases, martinscouts are merely the oldest birds in the colony returning to their previous place of breeding. They do non render south to guide their "flocks" in. If there is an absence after their initial inflow, it is usually weather related (holed up, joined a communal crenel roost, or starved to death - at that place is no bear witness of reverse migration in martins)., or they have moved on, using the site merely every bit an overnight "cabin" on their way north.

Mate Guarding: The behavior of male organisms in which they stay constantly at the side of their mate during her fertile period then as to insure that only they are the fertilizer of her eggs. During the nest-building and egg-laying stages of the Purple Martin'due south nesting bike, males closelymate baby-sit their mate by accompanying and following her everywhere she goes. A male person will accompany his mate to the eggshell tray and too land on the ground beside her while she selects every single piece of nest material that she carries to the nest.

Mate Guarding Intensity: Ofttimes measured as the percentage of female departures from the nest (earlier egglaying) during which the male escorted.

Migrant: Term applied to a creature that makes seasonal trips between breeding and wintering areas. The Purple Martin is the earliest tropical-wintering,migrant to return to the North American continent after spending the non-breeding season in S America.

Mobbing Behavior: The behavior of birds past which they vocally and physically harass their predators en masse in an endeavor to drive them abroad from their breeding territories and nests. Purple Martins commonlymob hawks, cats, dogs and occasionally humans, that become too shut to their nests or young.Mobbing takes the form of repeated, aerial dives to the intruder's head (missing past simply inches), accompanied by harsh vocalizations.

Molt: The procedure by which a bird renews all or a part of its plumage, including the growth of new feathers equally well equally the loss of old. Purple Martins undergo a completemoltof their entire plume in one case a year. Martin molt begins in late summertime while they are still at their colony sites and is slowed or completely arrested during the s migration. Information technology is continued in earnest while on the wintering grounds.

Monogamous: Term to draw an animal species that pairs with or has only one mate at a time. Purple Martins are justmonogamous in their pair-bonding behavior, which enables the sexes to equally share the duties of nest building and feeding of offspring. Compare with "Polygamous" and "Promiscuous."

Nest Creature: The invertebrate inhabitants of bird'due south nests. Many of the creatures that live in bird's nests are harmful to the birds with which they cohabitate. If a martin landlord carefully examines the nest of a Majestic Martin, they will find anest fauna comprised of the following ectoparasites: nest mites, fleas, bed bugs, and blowfly larvae. Nevertheless, not all of the inhabitants of nests are harmful; some species are actually beneficial to their bird hosts by helping to clean the nest of feces and other organic debris, and by eating or parasitizing the bird parasites.

Nesting Success: The number of nesting attempts that succeed in fledging at least i nestling. Compare with "Fledging Success" and "Hatching Success."

Nestling: The term for a immature bird from the fourth dimension information technology hatches until information technology leaves the nest. Thenestling period of the Purple Martin lasts about 26 to 34 days.

Nit: The egg of a louse or other parasitic insect. Lousenits tin be seen on the head feathers of well-nigh martins and appear as tiny, white capsules. The lice that parasitize Purple Martins spend their entire life bike on the birds and therefore, travel with them to Brazil and back each yr, nestled amid their feathers. Martins frequently engage in head scratching to salvage the irritation cause by the lice itch there. Bird lice frequently concentrate on the head area of their hosts because both they and their nits are prophylactic from visual "nit picking" in that location.

Nocturnal: The term means "active at night." Compare with "diurnal" and "crepuscular." During the breeding season and while on their wintering grounds, Purple Martins slumber at night. But during certain parts of their migration they are known to existnocturnal migrants.

Nostrils: As in humans, birds accept paired, external openings to their respiratory systems known every bit nostrils (or nares). They open into passages in the skull and ultimately atomic number 82 to the windpipe (trachea). Majestic Martins accept tiny parasites, known as nasal mites, that alive and crawl around in theirnostrils.

Oil Gland: A pocket-size, commonly bilobated organ located to a higher place the tail at the base of the rump in most species of bird. It contains an oily substance that is secreted via a duct through an external opening at the surface of the skin. It is sometimes called the "uropygial gland" or "preen gland." Bird species with anoil gland, such as Purple Martins, repeatedly press oil from it with their bills, so spread it over the feathers during preening. When applied to the feathers, preen oil aids insulation and waterproofing, and maintains feather pliability. One investigator has shown that, when activated past the sun on the feathers, the oil produces vitamin D, which is absorbed through the pare and is believed to foreclose the development of rickets in birds.

Ornithology: The scientific written report of bird life. About Due north American universities offer a course inOrnithology for their students who major in biology or zoology. If a person makes his or her living in the written report or management of wild birds, or education others almost birds, he or she would be chosen anornithologist.

Parasite: An organism that lives with, and obtains nutrient from, another organism, normally to the detriment of the latter. Nestling martins accept their feathers and skin eaten, and their blood sucked, past the followingparasites: fleas, lice, nest mites, bed bugs, feather mites, blackflies, louse flies, mosquitoes, and blowfly larvae. See "ectoparasite."

Parasite Load: The number of parasites living in, or on, a host. The greater the number of parasites, the heavier the parasite load is said to exist. Purple Martins reusing old nests, living in larger groups, or suffering ill health or malnutrition, tend to have higherparasite loads than those who don't.

Parasiticide: A chemical or amanuensis used to kill or repel parasites.

Partial Paternity: Males who have been cuckolded past their mates and are related, genetically, to but one or more (but not all) of the offspring hatched from the eggs in their nest, laid by the female to which they are paired. See "Complete Paternity" and "Zero Paternity."

Permanent Resident: A species of bird that both breeds and winters in the same region. The introduced European Starling and English Firm Sparrow are bothpermanent residents throughout most of North America, which gives them a competitive advantage over the Majestic Martin, a highly migratory species.

Perspiration: Unlike humans, birds do non regulate their body temperature with dermal sweat glands that secrete perspiration. Instead, they thermoregulate by giving off backlog rut in the form of h2o vapor, mainly by panting. On actually hot days, martins sit with their beaks agape (they are panting to facilitate h2o vapor loss from their rima oris linings), in an try to cool off. When martin nestlings get also hot (especially those being reared in uninsulated housing), they volition spread their mouths fully open.

Piracy: The stealing of food (or nesting fabric) from one bird by another. Encounter "kleptoparasitism." Parent martins are known to steal nesting cloth from other martins (both in the air and out of their nesting compartments). They besides have been observed stealing prey out the beaks of other martins, and occasionally even Chimney Swifts. Both nestling and fledgling martins will enter neighboring martin house compartments (where there are smaller nestlings) topirate incoming food from their "host's" unsuspecting parents. The con works because parent martins don't recognize their own young until fledging age.

Play: Many immature animals are observed to be "playful," a behavior pattern usually associated with "practicing" or preparing for such developed activities as communicable and killing of prey, or say-so contests. Brute play, while not having whatsoever apparent "purpose," is sometimes explained equally exercise or an innate honing of physical dexterity, both of which can be seen equally serving an individual'south future survival potential. Purple Martins commonly engage in flightplay with the green leaves they discard from their nest cups afterwards they have dried upwardly. Martins volition fly out of their nest compartment with a dried leaf in their bill, then repeatedly drop and recatch it in flight. Oft, other colony members volition join in and play "catch" with the foliage before information technology finally hits the ground and the game ends.

Feather: The collective term for all the feathers that encompass a bird's trunk. Theplumage of the male Regal Martin does not presume its familiar, purplish-blackness color until the bird is in its second potential convenance flavour.

Pneumatization of os: The term means "filled with air." One of the adaptations permitting birds the lightness of weight necessary for flying, is their hollow bones. In dissimilarity, mammals have solid basic. But, the hollow basic of birds are likewise filled with air sacs that are connected to the respiratory organisation.

Polygamous: Term to depict an animal species that pairs with or has more than one mate at a fourth dimension. Almost Blood-red-winged Blackbirds arepolygamous, with each male having a "harem" of females nesting within his territory. Compare with "Monogamous" and "Promiscuous."

Porch Domination: The trend of ascendant male person Purple Martins to claim and defend adjacent nest cavities in a martin house, especially when they are connected past a common porch. Because of male personporch domination, typically-designed martin houses rarely will exceed a fifty-60% room occupancy rate.

Porch Dividers: Metallic or wooden porch barriers that landlords or martin house manufacturers need to add to their porches to prevent nestling martins from walking betwixt adjacent nesting cavities using a shared porch. Meet "Face-to-face Porches."

Predator: An fauna that kills and eats another. The Purple Martin is apredator on the insects its eats and feeds to its young, but it (or its eggs) are in turn,predated past hawks, owls, falcons, raccoons, snakes, crows, jays, magpies, gulls, wrens, English House Sparrows, European Starlings, and even humans.

Preen Gland: Synonymous with "oil gland." See "Oil Gland."

Preening: The activeness by which a bird cleans, manipulates, and arranges the private feathers of its plumage using its bill. Regal Martins spend a great deal of time perched near their nest compartments or gourds engaged in prolongedpreening sessions where the whole plume is tended to, well-nigh plume by feather.

Premature Fledgling: A nestling bird that has left the nest (for whatever reason) at a stage in its growth before it tin fly or feed itself. In the Purple Martin,prematurefledglings are idea to event from nest compartments that become overheated or infested with parasites. But the deliberate, aggressive actions of sub-adult, available martins may likewise be involved. Come across "Fallouts".

Prognosticator: The calculator cycle developed and marketed by thePurple MartinConservation Clan used to predict hatching and fledging dates, and to decide nestling ages and breeding success. As the proper name implies, it is a device for telling the future (i.e., prognosticate). Information technology likewise has the root name Progne in information technology, as inProgne subis, the Latin proper noun of the Purple Martin.

Promiscuous: The term used to describe animals that copulate with several different partners inside a brusk time span. Although the pair bond in Royal Martins is monogamous, males are highlypromiscuous and will copulate (ofttimes forcibly) with any fertile female they tin can. Recent evidence suggests that subadult female person martins are as well highlypromiscuous,"wanting" their eggs to be fertilized past older, genetically superior males. Compare with "Polygamous" and "Monogamous."

Renest: The act of building some other nest and laying a replacement clutch after the failure or loss of the offset nest or its eggs. The Purple Martin will try torenest (often in the aforementioned nest) if its first clutch fails to hatch or is lost to predation. Simply, if a nesting endeavor failsafter the young take hatched, renesting is unlikely in the martin.

Scout-inflow Date: The date the first martins are observed back at the convenance site where they bred the previous summer.

Secondary-cavity Nester: A bird species that will but nest in pre-existing nest cavities (such equally abased woodpecker holes) considering it does not take the power to excavate its own. The Purple Martin, along with many other of our native,secondary-cavity nesters, face stiff nest-site competition from the introduced European Starling and English House Sparrow, who are toosecondary crenel nesters.

Sexual Dimorphism: The differences in size, structure, or appearance exhibited between the males and females of some species. The Purple Martin exhibitssexualdimorphism because males and females each possess different feather colors and markings during the convenance season.

Sexual Maturity: The historic period at which an organism is physiologically capable of breeding and raising young. Purple Martins reach sexual maturity and begin breeding at 11-months of age.

Single Brooded: Term applied to birds that raise only one "family unit" in a breeding season. Purple Martins are asingle-brooded species, although at that place are a few records of them successfully raising 2nd broods, particularly in the southern U.Southward. where the breeding season is a month or two longer than it is in the due north.

Site Fidelity: The behavior of certain animals whereby they render breeding season after convenance season to the same nest site. Banding studies testify that Regal Martins exhibit strongsite-fidelity with the same individuals returning yr afterward year to breed in the same martin houses (or gourd clusters).

Sleep: One of the most widespread misconceptions about birds is that they sleep with their heads tucked under their wings. In fact, the commonest sleeping posture, specially among songbirds, is with the head turned and resting on the back, and the neb tucked under the feathers of the shoulder (i.due east., the scapular feathers). During the convenance flavour, Purple Martinssleep in their martin houses and gourds at nighttime. In late summer and during the residual of their annual life wheel, martins sleep out in the open, on the exposed branches of trees, or on the pipes of Southward American oil refineries.

Soaring: A type of flight that is sustained without the flapping of wings and is therefore aided by some form of air move, such every bit thermals or updrafts. Purple Martins normally appoint insoaring flying every bit they forage extremely high in the air for flight insects. It is a very graceful behavior for martin landlords to lookout man.

SREH: "Starling Resistant Entrance Hole" Martins accept used these entrances in all parts of their convenance range, at established sites and new sites. Starlings are a serious threat to martins, and volition try to take over martin nests by killing adult martins, destroying eggs and nestlings; testing and perfecting these entrance holes could prove extremely beneficial to martins.

Subadult: The term for birds in an age class younger than that of the adults. In martins, due to inexperience,subadult breeders have significantly lower reproductive success. See "SY," "ASY," and "adult."

Summer Resident: A species that breeds in a given area just spends the winter elsewhere. The Purple Martin is only asummertime resident within the North American continent considering the entire population migrates to the South American torrid zone for the non-breeding portion of their annual life bike.

Sunday-bathing behavior: The peculiar posture that many birds presume on vivid, sunny days, while spreading and fluffing their feathers for the purpose of exposing their feather (or peel) to the calorie-free and/or heat of the sun. Whilesun-bathing, martins position their bodies perpendicularly to the dominicus, lean fashion over, roll their heads way to the side, erect their throat feathers, shut their eyes, and announced to exist in a deep, motionless trance.

Sunning: Another term for "sun-bathing." There are several theories equally to why birds sun. One is that is causes the ectoparasites living in their plumage to go more active, making information technology easier for them to exist eaten or removed. Second, that it releases vitamin D from the preen oil, which in plow is ingested past the birds while preening. Third, that the sun dries and fluffs the feathers, helping maintaining good insulation. Fourth, that birds may exist able to increase their free energy reserves by absorbing solar radiations through the peel. And fifth, that it only, plain feels expert.

SY: Bird banding terminology for "2nd-year." This is a bird in its 2d agenda yr of life. AnSY-Thou is a subadult male Purple Martin. Subadult martins are reproductively mature, just not all of them breed. Near SY female Purple Martins breed, just not all SY males do considering there are more males than females in the population. The SY plumage of Regal Martins is distinct from their ASY plumage. Encounter "ASY" and "adult," and "subadult".

Synanthropic: Literally "living with human being." The term refers to birds that are adjusted to living in close association with humans, or in human-modified habitats. For instance, the American Robin has benefited greatly past the creation of urban lawns, with their shortly-cropped grasses, making worm capture easier. In many respects, the Majestic Martin is the quintessentialsynanthropic species. For one, it's the but bird species in eastern North America that today, is totally dependent on humans for supplying it with nesting sites. Secondly, since it has been managed by man longer than any other species in Northward America, it has adult a very close human relationship with man - so much so that it rarely will nest in martin housing placed any farther from human housing than nigh 100 feet. And finally, it appears it may take benefited by homo's immigration of the forests for agriculture, both within its Due north America breeding range and its Southward American wintering range.

Syrinx: The organ of voice production unique to birds; a bird'due south "vocalization box." In about birds it is located over the junction of the trachea and the fork of the bronchi. Royal Martins are able to produce the wide repertoire of beautiful vocalizations they do, mainly because they take a highly-developedsyrinx.

Territory: An area of ground or airspace (including food sources and nest sites) that an organism defends confronting employ by other members of its species. Because aggressive Royal Martins defendterritories encompassing several side by side nest compartments.

Transient: A species or population that migrates through a given area, merely does non breed or winter there. Twice a year, during both its n (jump) and southward (fall) migrations, the Purple Martin passes through Central America where information technology is nowadays only as atransient.

Wintering Grounds: The geographic expanse that an animal migrates to later on breeding in summertime. The Purple Martin migrates to its S Americanwintering grounds for the non-breeding season, although it is southern hemisphere summer there.

Null Paternity: Males who have been totally cuckolded by their mates a nd are totally unrelated, genetically, to the offspring hatched from the eggs in their nest, laid by the female to which they are paired. See "Complete Paternity" and "Fractional Paternity."

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Source: https://www.purplemartin.org/purple-martins/biology/41/terminology/

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