Home > Swiftlet

The birds called Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets are contained within the four genera of Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and the remaining species left in Collocalia. The group contains around thirty species mostly confined to southern Asia and south Pacific islands and north eastern Australia all within the tropical and subtropical regions. They are in many respects typical members of the Apodidae having narrow wings for fast flight, with a wide gape and small reduced beak surrounded by bristles for catching insects in flight. What distinguishes many (but not all species) from other Swifts and indeed almost all other birds (see Oilbird) is their ability to use a simple but effective form of echolocation to navigate in total darkness through the chasms and shafts of the caves they utilize for night time roosting and breeding.

1 Nest as Delicacy

One fact that these birds (only a few species within the genus) are possibly more renowned for, is the use of their nestA nest is normally built by birds to hold their eggs and provide a home for their offspring. They are usually made of some organic material such as twigs, grass, and leaves. Generally each species of bird has a distinctive style of nest. Nests can be founs for making Birds nest soup in Chinese cuisine. During the breeding season, all the species salivary glands expand to produce the special sticky saliva for binding twigs and other detritus together for building the nest, which is a shallow cup stuck to the cave wall. Only a few species are suitable, and it is those species whose nests are made purely or almost purely of saliva that are harvested and most prized. The harvesting of the nests (often at some risk to the collector) from tall bambooMany, see text Bamboos are a group of woody perennial evergreen plants in the grass family Poaceae subfamily Bambusoideae . Some of its members are giants, forming by far the largest members of the grass family. Bamboos are found in diverse climates, from scaffolding often reaching high up the cave walls, sometimes hundreds of feet high and have been used for centuries (with obvious repairs) to reach the nests. There is some concern that over harvesting is causing several species to become scarcer. Bird nest merchants in the southeast Asia (including VietnamThe Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. It borders China, Laos, Cambodia, and the Gulf of Tonkin. Cng Hoa Xa Hi Ch Nghia Vit Nam ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: Dc lp, t do, hnh phuc (Independence, Liberty, Happiness Off, IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia the world's largest archipelago, is located between the Southeast Asian peninsula and Australia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Indonesia borders Malaysia on the island of Borneo ( Kalimantan in Bahasa Indonesia), Papua N, ThailandThe Kingdom of Thailand is a country in southeast Asia, bordering Laos and Cambodia to the east, the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia to the south, and the Andaman Sea and Myanmar to the west. Thailand is also known as Siam which was the country's official n etc.) have started to raise and breed the swiftlets in house-like structures. They build the shelters to attract wild swiftlets to build nests in them. The wrong kind of nests are then destroyed along with the eggs inside. Over time, the selection process only leaves behind a colony of swiftlets that produce the right kind of nest for the trade. "House nests" are priced much lower than the "cave nests" due to the level of risks involved in the harvesting process.

Some consumers of bird nest soup have noticed significant improvement in appetite. However, some other noticed excessive secretion of gastric acid that may cause acid reflux symptoms.