Satin Swiftlet
Collocalia uropygialis
A strikingly patterned swiftlet that is mostly a deep satin purple with a bright white rump and white spots at the base of the tail. Occurs over most habitat types, almost always in flight. Resembles White-rumped Swiftlet, but generally much darker, especially underneath, with much more contrasting coloration and no pale throat. Rarely vocal, but gives an electric “churr” at nesting colonies.
Identification
The satin swiftlet is around 10 cm (4 in) in length. The back is satin blueish black. The throat and upper breast are plain dark grey, the lower breast, flanks and belly are white. The tail feathers are dark but there are usually dull white spots on the inner webs. The subspecies albidior is larger and has large white spots on the inner webs of the tail feathers. The upper breast is a paler grey with white margins to the feathers.
Taxonomy
The satin swiftlet was described by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1866 as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet with the scientific name Collocalia esculenta uropygialis. The type locality is Aneityum, the southernmost island of Vanuatu. The epithet uropygialis is from the Latin uropygialis meaning "rump". The satin swiftlet was formerly treated as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet but was promoted to species status based on the results of a detailed analysis of the swiftlets in the genus Collocalia published in 2017.<p>Two subspecies are recognised:
- Scientific name
- Collocalia uropygialis
- Authority
- Gray, GR, 1866
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Apodidae
- Genus
- Collocalia
Photos
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