White-nest Swiftlet

About the White-nest Swiftlet

The edible-nest swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus), also known as the white-nest swiftlet, is a small bird of the swift family which is found in Southeast Asia. Its opaque and whitish nest is made exclusively of solidified saliva and is the main ingredient of bird's nest soup, a delicacy of Chinese cuisine. Germain's swiftlet (Aerodramus germani) is now treated as conspecific with this species.

The edible-nest swiftlet was formally described in 1812 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Peter Thunberg under the binomial name Hirundo fuciphaga based on a specimen collected on the island of Java. The specific epithet fuciphaga combines the Ancient Greek φυκος/phukos meaning "seaweed" with -φαγος/-phagos meaning "-eating". The edible-nest swiftlet is now one of 25 swiftlets placed in the genus Aerodramus that was introduced in 1906 by the American ornithologist Harry C. Oberholser.

Eight subspecies are recognised: A. f. inexpectatus (Hume, 1873) – Andaman and Nicobar Islands A. f. vestitus (Lesson, RP, 1843) – Malay Peninsula (?introduced), Sumatra, Belitung (east of south Sumatra) and Borneo A. f. perplexus (Riley, 1927) – Maratua (east of northeast Borneo)

A. f. fuciphagus (Thunberg... Wikipedia →