Himalayan Swiftlet

The Himalayan swiftlet is a small swift, 13–14 cm long, with swept-back wings like a crescent or boomerang, a slender body and a forked tail. It is mainly grey-brown above and paler brown below, with a pale grey rump and a pale patch above and behind the bill. Its roosting call is a twittering chit-chit, and it also has a piercing teeree-teeree-teeree; clicks are followed by twittering as it approaches its nest (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is a common colonial breeder in the Himalaya and Southeast Asia; the nominate race breeds in the Himalaya east to Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand and is an altitudinal migrant, breeding up to above 4,500 m and wintering between 900 and 2,750 m. Nests of this colonial swift may touch, and the clutch is two white eggs.