| Photo Information |
Copyright: alyssa erika louis agaban (seafetish)
![Silver Note Writer [C: 1 W: 0 N: 16]](https://i1.treknature.com/misc/n-n-s.gif) (96) |
| Genre: Animals |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2009-05-17 |
| Categories: Birds |
| Camera: Nikon D40X |
| Exposure: f/8, 1/500 seconds |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2009-05-25 23:52 |
| Viewed: 5754 |
| Points: 0 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
The Edible-nest Swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) is a small bird of the swift family which is found in South-east Asia. Its nest is made of solidified saliva and is used to make bird's nest soup or Nido soup.
This one is a sub-specie - German's Swiftlet (Aerodramus germani). Its diet consists of flying insects which are caught on the wing. It often feeds in large flocks with other species of swift and swallow.
It breeds in colonies in caves, in a cleft in a cliff or sometimes on a building. The bracket-shaped nest is white and translucent and is made of layers of hardened saliva attached to the rock. It measures about 6 cm across with a depth of 1.5 cm and a weight of about 14 grams. Two white, oval, non-glossy eggs are laid.
The nest used in bird's nest soup are composed almost entirely of the bird's solidified saliva with little or no plant material. The soup is made by soaking and steaming the nests in water and is said to be an aphrodisiac and to have various medicinal qualities. The nests can fetch high prices and many colonies are harvested commercially.
A very beautiful island in the Philippines was named after this delicacy (nido soup), El Nido (in Palawan) -spanish for "the Nido,"- where the bird thrives in abundance. |
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