Distribution

Fairly common as a breeder throughout most islands in the Greater Antilles, some of the Lesser Antilles (not all islands in the Leeward group), and Tobago (American Ornithologists' Union 1998, Raffaele et al. 1998). It is absent as a breeder from Cuba, where it is replaced by the Cuba Martin (Progne cryptoleuca). The Caribbean Martin is a vagrant to the Bahamas (Mayaguana, Great Inagua and Grand Turk; Buden 1987), to the Cayman Islands (American Ornithologists' Union 1998), and to Cozumel Island, Mexico (Phillips 1986).

Caribbean Martins generally retreat from the Caribbean during the nonbreeding season from October to January. Little is known about migration or the nonbreeding distribution of Caribbean Martins. There are both spring and fall records for Curaçao, where it is not clear if the species is a regular migrant or only a vagrant (Voous 1983). On the other hand, although the martin is a regular breeder on Tobago (ffrench 1991), there are only a few records from adjacent Trinidad (Murphy and Hayes 2001). A small overwintering roost on Barbados in the winter of 2000-2001, with a maximum count of 45 individuals present during the period of December-February (Martin and Massiah 2001); this is the first report of Caribbean Martin overwintering in the West Indies. The main nonbreeding distribution has been assumed to be in South America, but with very little information regarding its presence there. There are undocumented sight records of Caribbean Martin from coastal Venezuela (Hilty 2003) and Guyana (Snyder 1966). Recently the species also has been found (and photographed) in coastal Suriname, in numbers of up to 1100 individuals (Ottema et al. 2009).

Endemic to the Americas.

Prefers open or moderately open habitat at low elevation and often found near sea coasts, fresh water, cliffs, and/or towns. Has been documented as high as 1800-1900 m above sea level around montane forest (Rimmer et al. 2003).

No information.

No information.