The Asian palm swift (''Cypsiurus balasiensis'') is a small

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

. It is very similar to the

African palm swift The African palm swift (''Cypsiurus parvus'') is a small swift. It is very similar to the Asian palm swift, ''Cypsiurus balasiensis'', and was formerly considered to be the same species. The Malagasy palm swift was also recently split from this ...

, ''Cypsiurus parvus'', and was formerly considered to be the same species. It is a common resident breeder in tropical

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The down and feather nest is glued to the underside of a palm leaf with saliva, which is also used to secure the usually two or three eggs. This is a bird of open country and cultivation, which is strongly associated with

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. Description Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...

s.''Birds of India'' by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, This 13 cm long species is mainly pale brown in colour. It has long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

. The body is slender, and the tail is long and deeply forked, although it is usually held closed. The call is a loud shrill scream. Sexes are similar, and young birds differ from adults mainly in their shorter tails. Asian palm swift 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 beaks. Asian palm swifts often feed near the ground, and they drink on the wing.

Gallery

File:Asian Palm Swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis) Pondicherry India Apr 2011.jpg, Asian palm swift flying above the beach at a resort in

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: Places in India * Puducherry (union territory), formerly known as Pondicherry ** Puducherry (city), capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district The Puducherry District, also know ...

, India File:Asian Palm Swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis) Pondicherry India Apr 2011 b.jpg, Asian palm swift upper

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q31797 Asian palm swift Birds of Indomalaya Asian palm swift Asian palm swift