About swallow nest, swiftlet, edible bird’s nest

Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Soup from a Nest? (for the Week of April 16, 2006)

extension.osu.edu/

Writer:

Kurt Knebusch
knebusch.1@osu.edu
330-263-3776

Dear Twig: Why do they call it birds’ nest soup? Is it really made out of birds’ nests?

In short: Yes. Birds’ nest soup is a Chinese dish that is made from the nest of a bird called the swiftlet. Swiftlets are small, fast birds of southeast Asia. They build their nests in groups high on cave walls. And they make those nests from something weird: saliva, or spit. Ick! The spit comes out in long, thin strands from glands that are located under the tongue. The strands are woven to make a nest that sticks to the wall like glue.

Ew. (But effective.)

It used to be the nests were harvested once or twice a year. The birds were able to raise their young. But lately, however, demand has soared. People are gathering more and more nests and are doing it more and more often.

Which, of course, is bad for the swiftlets. Scientists say their numbers are falling. If the harvest isn’t reduced, some types could be gone — extinct — in only five or 10 years.

The gooey, gluey, spitty nests actually don’t have much taste. The soup gets its flavor from other ingredients. And, contrary to folk belief, the nests have little nutritional value. They do have a special protein in them, one that boosts immunity. But cleaning the nest before cooking destroys it.

Loogily,

Twig

P.S. Swiftlet cousins in North America include th

Add comment August 14th, 2006

Breeding Biology of the Atiu Swiftlet

publish.csiro.au
MK Tarburton

Abstract

The Atiu Swiftlet Aerodramus leucophaeus sawtelli builds most of its nests from lichen, fibre from the crown of the coconut tree and saliva. Nests were smaller and less often placed in total darkness than those of other species that also have two chicks. Most nests were built in September and the last chicks probably fledged in April. Both parents share the incubation of their two white eggs and both begin moulting their flight feathers while incubating. As well as replacing lost eggs and young broods some parents relaid after successfully fledging their first brood. The average weight of newly hatched chicks was 1.1 g and at the time of fledging (53 days later) was 9.5 g. Each brood was fed six times a day. Chicks do not have any of the parasitic louse flies that are common on other swiftlets in the south-west Pacific but they are killed by crabs. Atiu sustained 380 breeding Atiu Swiftlets during the season, which means the density was 7.1 ha per breeding bird.

Emu 90(3) 175 - 179

Full text doi:10.1071/MU9900175

Add comment August 14th, 2006