Facts About Edible Birdnests and Swiftlets

Edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with an average nest selling for $2,500 per kilogramme for end-consumers in Asia. The nests have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird's nest soup.

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.

It is 11 to 12 cm long and weighs 15 to 18 grams, with the average life span is between 15 to 18 years. The plumage is blackish-brown above, paler on the underparts. The rump is slightly paler than the rest of the upperparts. The tail is slightly forked and the wings are long and narrow. The bill and feet are black.

The Edible-nest Swiftlet feeds over a range of habitats from coastal areas to the mountains, occurring up to 2,800 metres above sea-level on Sumatra and Borneo. 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.

Aerodramus Fuciphagus

The nest used in bird's nest soup are composed almost entirely of 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.

Some populations such as those in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been harvested extensively leading to them being considered critically threatened under the IUCN criteria.


The use of artificial bird houses is growing. A detailed account of modern nest farming and marketing techniques is given by Jordan (2004). In Malaysia, "farming" of nests is performed in purpose-built structures or old empty houses with "tweeters" playing recordings of bird calls on the roof to attract swiftlets.