How many types of swallows are there in the world?
My personal answer is that there are just too many and most of them are not relevant to a newbie in swiftlet farming. I believed you should not be too bothered about how many there are and how they look like and so forth.
You should try to know how many birds that produces those edible birdnests and the rest are useless to you.
Anyway for the sake of curiosity my personal answer to your question is that no body knows exactly how many types of swallow there are in the wild.
Some says there are 21, some come out with 14 but some says 38.
Let us not be confused with these numbers but focus on three that are said to produce edible nests
These are:
1) Collocalia Fuciphaga (Aerodramus Fuciphagus)or AF
2) Collocalia Maxima (Aerodramus Maximus)or AM
3) Collocalia Germani (Aerodramus Germani)
Out of the three only the first two are said to be found in Malaysia and Indonesia while Germani are only found in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philliphine.
The best among the two i.e. AF and AM, is the AF birdnest. They are crystal white and are the most hunted for. Their nests are mainly made of saliva with little feathers. They can be attracted to make their nests in specially built house.
AM produces black edible birdnests. They are cave dwellers and their nest are black due to the high content of their feathers. The ratio of saliva and feathers are something like 70% feathers and 30% saliva. They are not the ideal nest for us to be concern of.
Both types are said to be from a group called apodidae. Apodidae refers to swiftlets that have deformed legs structure so much so they have difficulties in perching. They are adapted to clinging to walls and they are built with strong chest muscle to enable them to fly for one whole day without stopping.
One other special charecteristic that they have is the ability to find they ways in the dark using the echolocation ability. Due to this special ability they prefer to stay in caves or house that are dark.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi Harry,
Your articles are easy to read, easy to understand and interesting. Your generosity in the sharing of your expertise deserves great applause.
Please keep up your good work. Everyone appreciates it.
Those who found your blog are definitely no dummies. Hence, your blog if named, "Swiftlet Farming For Non-Dummies" would be more appropriate.
Cheers!
Dear Sir,
I saw yr Blog about swiftlet,
Do you incubate yr egg. and rise them, if you do, what food do you feed the baby.What temp do you keep the egg in. N after they hatch what temp do you keep them, and for how many day they need to be in the brooder. Pls adv.
best regards
Mr.Teo
Post a Comment