Common House-Martin
Delichon urbica

House Martins are casual in the Pribilofs, with three accepted records. The three records span the entire season, with the first on June 12, 1974, the second on July 10, 1994, and the third on Aug 28-30, 2001. The identification of this species is at once both straightforward and difficult. House Martins are readily separated from all of our North American species by virtue of their small size, all white rump, all white underparts, forked tail, and deep blue upperparts. However, a second species of House Martin, the Asian House Martin (Delichon dasypus), provides some difficulty. The Asian House Martin has not yet been definitively identified in North America but could conceivably occur. To confidently label a visiting House Martin as a Common House Martin look to the underparts, which should be very white in Common (washed with gray in Asian), the rump, which is lightly streaked in Asian, and the tail, which is slightly less forked in Asian Houe Martin. Both species are highly migratory, although their summer ranges barely overlap. The Common House Martin breeds to the north of the range of Asian House Martin and extends east to the Koryak Highlands in Russia. The Asian House Martin breeds no closer to the Pribilof Islands than the Kurile Islands and the Koreas.



Abundance   Accidental
Season         Su
Status           Usually a fall wanderer