Cave swiftlet
Cave swiftlet | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Strisores |
Order: | Apodiformes |
Family: | Apodidae |
Genus: | Collocalia |
Species: | C. linchi
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Binomial name | |
Collocalia linchi |
The cave swiftlet or linchi swiftlet (Collocalia linchi) is a species of
Taxonomy
The cave swiftlet was
There are four recognised subspecies:[5]
- C. l. dedii Somadikarta, 1986 - Bali and Lombok
- C. l. linchi Horsfield & Moore, F, 1854 - Bawean and Java
- C. l. ripleyi Somadikarta, S, 1986 - Barisan Mountains, Sumatra
- C. l. dodgei Richmond, 1905 - Mt Kinabalu (Sabah), in N Borneo.
Description
This bird is shiny blackish-brown above with a greenish gloss, including its rump; sometimes looks black and hooded. Chest black; belly to flanks pale grey with fine black speckles at margins. Wing tips are rounded; underwing is black. Tail black, rounded with shallow notch but lacking the white specks found in the very similar glossy swiftlet (Collocalia esculenta). A distinguishing feature between the two species is that the glossy swiftlet has a tuft of feathers on its hind toe but the cave swiftlet has a naked toe. It is 9 to 11.5 cm (3.5 to 4.5 in) in length. The call is a high-pitched "cheer-cheer".[6]
Distribution and habitat
The cave swiftlet is native to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Behaviour
The cave swiftlet is highly gregarious and flies with all the other species of swift that are sympatric with it. It often circles and flies through the branches of trees emerging through the canopy such as fruiting figs. It breeds in the lighter parts of caves, building a nest of stringy vegetation and cementing the materials to the rock with saliva. Two white, somewhat elongated eggs are laid.[6]
Status
The cave swiftlet has a very wide range and is common in Java and the nearby islands. It has no particular threats and the
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Horsfield, Thomas; Moore, Frederic (1854). A Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the Honorable East India Company. Vol. 1. London: W.H. Allen. pp. 100–106.
- ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1940). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 4. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 229–230.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Owlet-nightjars, treeswifts & swifts". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ^ ISBN 9781408135402.
- . Retrieved 16 November 2021.
Further reading
- Somadikarta, S. (1986). "Collocalia linchi Horsfield and Moore — a revision". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 106 (1): 32–40.
- Rheindt, Frank E.; Christidis, Les; Norman, Janette A.; Eaton, James A.; Sadanandan, Keren R.; Schodde, Richard (2017). "Speciation in Indo-Pacific swiftlets (Aves: Apodidae): integrating molecular and phenotypic data for a new provisional taxonomy of the Collocalia esculenta complex". Zootaxa. 4250 (5): 401–433. PMID 28609999.