If you look at some of the Indonesian books you can see 4" planks being used and they are successful in having swiftlets making their nests on them. Once the nests are harvested, they are cleaned and sold to restaurants. These are Edible-nest Swiftlets. In Indonesia, however, the bird’s nest craze is a multi-million dollar industry turning spit into serious coin. Echolocation signal design in swiftlets. Each nest takes about 30 days to complete All you need to know about swiftlets and their nests. In this case I made an exception because these particular nests are right beside a busy boardwalk through the cave; the regular passage of tourists does not disturb them. How to find an ideal location for swiftlet farming. •Cave Swiftlets make their nests out of their saliva. Then later in July-Sept is the second harvest once the young swiftlets have left the nests. David Attenborough describes how swiftlets use just spittle to build their nests, how they do it in the dark, and how he doesn't much care for the nests in soup. Each nest takes about 30 days to complete Bird saliva is very good for making glue: in fact, some species of swiftlets make their whole nest out of simply saliva. If you observe the swiftlets nesting, they made their nests at the top and 4" is good enough for the swiftlets to nest. In this case I made an exception because these particular nests are right beside a busy boardwalk through the cave; the regular passage of tourists does not disturb them. The swiftlet is remarkable on two counts: the nest, made chiefly or entirely of saliva, is the basis of bird’s-nest soup; and, with the oilbird (q.v. It occurs in February-April when the swiftlets have not yet laid their eggs. As a rule I do not take pictures of birds at their nests. I hadn’t heard if this, so I did some research. As it dries, it becomes hard. The essential components of a successful farm. The earliest reports of house-broken swiftlets come from Java in the 1800s, when a few birds haphazardly glued their nests onto outhouses and culverts. Bird’s nests are an important part of Chinese culture, long cherished for their purported health benefits and for being marks of class. ), certain swiftlets are the only birds known to use echolocation to find their way around dark caverns, as do bats. Their whitish nests, constructed from the bird's saliva, are collected to make soup. The group contains around thirty species mostly confined to southern Asia, south Pacific islands, and northeastern Australia , all within the tropical and subtropical regions. Their whitish nests, constructed from the bird's saliva, are collected to make soup. 2). Today, the evening skies of cities like Myeik are filled with swarms of Edible-nest Swiftlets and their staccato mating calls. 2). 6" would be better if you can afford it but why should we waste if we can save. Hundreds of swiftlets leave the cave each day, only to return at dusk, swapping shifts with the bats who leave on their nightly food foraging raids. Swiftlets or cave swiftlets are birds contained within the four genera Aerodramus, Hydrochous, Schoutedenapus and Collocalia. In Indonesia, however, the bird’s nest craze is a multi-million dollar industry turning spit into serious coin. The different external and internal designs of swiftlet farms. How to minimize the risk of venture failure. These are Edible-nest Swiftlets. Echolocation has been confirmed in 16 species of swiftlets (Chantler et al., 1999) and existing descriptions of swiftlet echolocation signals are more congruent, even across recording conditions, than those for Oilbirds (Table (Table2). Thank you for the interesting question! Bird’s nests are an important part of Chinese culture, long cherished for their purported health benefits and for being marks of class. Edible-nest swiftlets are a small species of bird, found only in Southeast Asia, which make edible nests entirely of their saliva (see Fig.