Aerodramus vanikorensis
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The uniform swiftlet (Aerodramus vanikorensis), also known as the Vanikoro swiftlet or lowland swiftlet, is a gregarious, medium-sized swiftlet with a shallowly forked tail. The colouring is dark grey-brown, darker on the upperparts with somewhat paler underparts, especially on chin and throat. This species is widespread from the Philippines through Wallacea, New Guinea and Melanesia. It forages for flying insects primarily in lowland forests and open areas. It nests in caves where it uses its sense of echolocation, rare in birds, to navigate.
The uniform swift was formally described in 1832 by the French naturalists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard from a specimen collected on the island of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands. They coined the binomial name Hirundo vanikorensis. This swiftlet is now placed in the genus Aerodramus that was introduced in 1906 by Harry C. Oberholser. Wikipedia →
Flight call0:08
Solomon Islands · 2015
© Frank Lambert · XC290255 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raja Ampat | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | |
| 2 | Tangkoko Nature Reserve | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Makassar | 🇮🇩 Indonesia |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Uniform Swiftlet sighting in Tangkoko Nature Reserve on a given day, based on 279 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 38th most-seen of the 138 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September
In that month about 50% of wildlife watchers report a Uniform Swiftlet in Tangkoko Nature Reserve on a given day, against about 10% in February and October, the lowest months.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Uniform Swiftlet sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Among the best
Of the 2 parks where we can rate Uniform Swiftlet sightings, Tangkoko Nature Reserve ranks 2nd at about 30%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Raja Ampat (Indonesia, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Uniform Swiftlet is recorded against all the birds logged in Tangkoko Nature Reserve (279 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.
