Australian Swiftlet (Aerodramus terraereginae) [XC748059]
by id from Lower Daintree, Douglas Shire, Queensland, Australia (aberrant)
Nest
Small halp-cups of vegatable material, including fine moss and tree fragments, with a few feathers, the whole cemented together with saliva, attacheed to a sloping roof of a cave or rocky recess, in colonies.
Eggs (Guide)
Clutch Size: 1
Color: white
Dimensions: 18 x 13 mm (long-oval)
Incubation: 22 days by both sexes
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fed by both parents.
Fledge: 40 - 50 days
Subspecies
White-rumped Swiftlet (Aerodramus spodiopygius) and Australian Swiftlet (Aerodramus terraereginae) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) have been lumped into Collocalia spodiopygius following Christidis and Boles (1994). However, Aerodramus spodiopygius was again split into White-rumped Swiftlet (Aerodramus spodiopygius) and Australian Swiftlet (Aerodramus terraereginae) by Christidis and Boles (2008). BirdLife International does not recognize this as a full species.
Forms superspecies with Philippine Swiftlet (Aerodramus mearnsi), Moluccan Swiftlet (Aerodramus infuscatus), Mountain Swiftlet (Aerodramus hirundinaceus) and White-rumped Swiftlet (Aerodramus spodiopygius). Previously placed in composite species Mascarene Swiftlet (Aerodramus francicus) or alternatively in Uniform Swiftlet (Aerodramus vanikorensis). Considered conspecific with White-rumped Swiftlet (Aerodramus spodiopygius) by some authors. Subspecies chillagoensis has even been treated as a separate species, although solid grounds for such a split would appear to be lacking.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet