Aerodramus unicolor
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
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 southwest India. 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.
Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, Birds of India ISBN 0-691-04910-6 Chantler, Paul and Driessens, Gerald, Swifts ISBN 1-873403-83-6 Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Udawalawe National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 4 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 5 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Yala National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 10 | Minneriya National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 11 | Wilpattu National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Kozhikode | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Thiruvananthapuram | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Thrissur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Coimbatore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Kollam | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Mysuru | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Swiftlet sighting in Thiruvananthapuram on a given day, based on 85 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 91st most-seen of the 174 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Swiftlet in Thiruvananthapuram on a given day, against under 5% in March–September and November–December, the lowest months.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian Swiftlet sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 8
Of the 8 cities where we can rate Indian Swiftlet sightings, Thiruvananthapuram ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (Sri Lanka, about 10%) and Kozhikode (India, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian Swiftlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Thiruvananthapuram (85 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
