Glossy swiftlet
| Glossy swiftlet | |
|---|---|
_(8127975211).jpg) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Apodidae |
| Genus: | Collocalia |
| Species: | C. esculenta |
| Binomial name | |
| Collocalia esculenta (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
White-bellied swiftlet[2] | |
The glossy swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta) is a species of swift in the Apodidae family. It is found in Australia, Brunei, Christmas Island, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Andaman Islands, Solomon Islands, Thailand, and Vanuatu.[1]
Description
This bird is shiny black-blue above, including its rump; sometimes looks black and hooded. Chest black; belly to flanks white with fine black speckles at margins. Wing tips are rounded; underwing is black. Tail rounded with shallow notch and tiny white panels. It is so similar to the white-rumped swiftlet that both its upperparts and underparts must be seen to distinguish between the two. It is 9 to 11.5 cm (3.5 to 4.5 in) in length. Its voice is a soft twittering.[3]
Behaviour
The glossy swiftlet nests inside caves and buildings, creating a nest on a vertical or under a horizontal surface by secreting a sticky gel and attaching a kind of string-like grass to the surface.[4] It is seen flying over forests, streams, rivers and roads catching insects in flight.
Glossy swiftlets have been considered as possible foster parents for restoring the population of the endangered edible-nest swiftlet in the Andaman Islands.[2]
Distribution
The glossy swiftlet is known from India, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor, Brunei, Christmas Island, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. It is a vagrant to Australia.[1] It is not a migrant.[5]
Status
The glossy swiftlet has a very large range and is reported as being abundant in at least part of the range. It faces no particular threats, and as a result, the IUCN has listed it as being of "Least Concern".[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 BirdLife International (2012). "Collocalia esculenta". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
- 1 2 R. Sankaran (1998), The impact of nest collection on the Edible-nest Swiftlet in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History,Coimbatore, India.
- ↑ Simpson, Ken & Day, Nicholas (1999). Birds of Australia, pg. 156. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. ISBN 0-691-14692-6.
- ↑ K C Tsang, Amy Tsang (2008-03-01). "Glossy Swiftlets at Fraser’s Hill". Bird Ecology Study Group. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
- ↑ "Species factsheet: Collocalia esculenta". Birdlife International. Retrieved 1 June 2015.