Collocalia affinis
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The plume-toed swiftlet (Collocalia affinis) is a small bird in the swift family Apodidae. It is found on some eastern Indian Ocean islands, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and lowland Borneo. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It was previously considered a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet.
The plume-toed swiftlet was described by the English ornithologist Robert Cecil Beavan in 1867 and given current binomial name Collocalia affinis. The type locality is Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. The specific epithet affinis is Latin for "related" or "applied". The plume-toed swiftlet was previously treated as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet but was promoted to species status based on the results of a detailed analysis of the swiftlets in the genus Collocalia published in 2017.
There are five subspecies: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Way Kambas National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Kinabalu Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 3 | Danum Valley Conservation Area | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 4 | Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Sepilok | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 6 | Kerinci Seblat National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 7 | Bako National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 8 | Gunung Leuser National Park | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 9 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 10 | Khao Luang National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 11 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kuching | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 2 | Padang | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 3 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 4 | Johor Bahru | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 5 | Kuala Lumpur | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Plume-toed Swiftlet sighting in Sepilok on a given day, based on 1,017 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 23rd most-seen of the 242 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June–July, October and December–March
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Plume-toed Swiftlet in Sepilok on a given day, against about 20% in May, the lowest month.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Plume-toed 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.
5th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Plume-toed Swiftlet sightings, Sepilok ranks 5th at about 40%. The best odds are in Way Kambas National Park (Indonesia, about 50%), Kinabalu Park (Malaysia, about 50%) and Danum Valley Conservation Area (Malaysia, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Apodidae
The closest relatives of the Plume-toed Swiftlet that you can see in Sepilok (family Apodidae, Swifts) are Silver-rumped Needletail (about 30%), White-nest Swiftlet (about 20%) and Brown-backed Needletail (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Plume-toed Swiftlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Sepilok (1,017 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.
