The Indian Swiftlet or Indian Edible-Nest Swiftlet (''Aerodramus 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 * SWIF ...

. It is a common resident colonial breeder in the hills of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and southwest

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 ...

. 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, also known as swallow nests ( zh, c=燕窝, p=yànwō), are bird nests created from solidified saliva by edible-nest swiftlets, Indian swiftlets and other swiftlets of the genera ''Aerodramus'', '' Hydrochous'', '' Schout ...

, 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 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 short and only slightly indented. Both sexes and young birds are similar. The 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.

Notes

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