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The Indian swiftlet, or Indian edible-nest swiftlet, (''Aerodramus unicolor'', or ''Collocalia unicolor'') 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
* SWIFT ...
. It is a common resident colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
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* Colonial (1920 a ...
breeder in the hills of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
and south west India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
.
The half-cup nest is built on a vertical surface, often in a cave. The male swift uses thick saliva to construct the white, shiny nest into which two eggs are laid.
The relatively tasteless nests are harvested, and mixed with chicken, spices, and other flavours as bird's nest soup
Edible bird's nests are bird nests created by edible-nest swiftlets, Indian swiftlets, and other swiftlets using solidified saliva, which are harvested for human consumption. They are particularly prized in Chinese culture due to their rarit ...
, a supposed aphrodisiac.
This 12 cm long species is mainly dark brown above and paler brown below. It has swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...
. The body is slender, and the tail is short and only slightly indented.
Both sexes and young birds are similar. Indian swiftlet 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 bills, and they drink on the wing.
References
* Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ''Birds of India'' *Chantler, Paul and Driessens, Gerald, ''Swifts'' {{Authority control Birds of India Birds of Sri Lanka Aerodramus Birds described in 1840