Aerodramus maximus
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The black-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus maximus) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
Its saliva is one of the main sources of edible nests for bird's nest soup. Wikipedia →
Song0:31
Malaysia · 2001
© Arnold Meijer · XC35626 · CC BY-NC-ND 2.5
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Tanjung Puting National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yogyakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Jakarta | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-nest Swiftlet sighting in Sepilok on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 194th most-seen of the 242 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Black-nest Swiftlet in Sepilok on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-nest Swiftlet sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
5th of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Black-nest Swiftlet sightings, Sepilok ranks 5th at under 5%. The best odds are in Gunung Leuser National Park (Indonesia, about 10%), Tanjung Puting National Park (Indonesia, about 10%) and Taman Negara National Park (Malaysia, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-nest Swiftlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Sepilok (17 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
