Indian swiftlet

The Indian swiftlet or Indian edible-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus unicolor) is a small swift. It is a common resident colonial breeder in the hills of Sri Lanka and south west India.

Indian swiftlet
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Dinosauria
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae
Genus: Aerodramus
Species:
A. unicolor
Binomial name
Aerodramus unicolor
(Jerdon, 1840)
Synonyms[2]
  • Collocalia unicolor (Jerdon, 1840)
  • Hirundo unicolor Jerdon, 1840

The half-cup nest is built on a vertical surface, often in a cave. The male swift uses thick saliva to construct the white, shiny nest into which two eggs are laid.

The relatively tasteless nests are harvested, and mixed with chicken, spices, and other flavours as bird's nest soup, a supposed aphrodisiac.

This 12 cm long species is mainly dark brown above and paler brown below. It has swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. The body is slender, and the tail is short and only slightly indented.

Both sexes and young birds are similar. The Indian swiftlet has very short legs which it uses only for clinging to vertical surfaces, since swifts never settle voluntarily on the ground.

These swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their bills, and they drink on the wing.

Indian Swiftlet in Thattekad, Kerala, India

Notes
  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Aerodramus unicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22686516A93115618. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22686516A93115618.en. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  2. "Aerodramus unicolor (Jerdon, 1840)". Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 17 February 2023.

References
  • Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of India ISBN 0-691-04910-6
  • Chantler, Paul and Driessens, Gerald, Swifts ISBN 1-873403-83-6
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