Salangana Uniforme

Una salangana grande, de alas largas y completamente gris-marrón, con una cola muy ligeramente ahorquillada y un vuelo planeado. Se encuentra en una variedad de hábitats, a menudo en bandadas con otras salanganas. Casi siempre se ve en vuelo. Ampliamente distribuida, por lo que se superpone con múltiples salanganas similares. La Salangana Uniforme es más grande y de alas más largas que las salanganas Brillante, de Cueva y de Borneo, con un vientre oscuro y un vuelo no revoloteante. La Salangana Uniforme carece del obispillo pálido y claro de las salanganas de Rabadilla Blanca, Seram, Halmahera, Sulawesi y algunas Brillantes, y es más grande que esas especies. La Uniforme carece de brillo en las partes superiores, a diferencia de las salanganas de Mayr, de Montaña y Brillante. Es más pequeña que las salanganas Patipelada, de Mayr, Papúa, del Volcán y Gigante. Es muy similar a las salanganas de Nido Comestible y de Nido Negro, pero la Uniforme es más oscura por debajo y carece del obispillo ligeramente más pálido de la de Nido Comestible; se distingue mejor de esas especies por su nido de musgo.

Identificación

The uniform swiftlet is a gregarious, medium-sized swiftlet with a shallowly forked tail. It is about 13 cm long with a wingspan averaging around 27 cm. It weighs about 11 grams. The colouring is dark grey-brown, darker on the upperparts with paler underparts, especially on chin and throat. It is similar to, and most likely to be confused with, the white-rumped swiftlet or mountain swiftlet.

Taxonomía

The uniform swift was formally described in 1832 by the French naturalists Jean Quoy and Joseph Gaimard from a specimen collected on the island of Vanikoro in the Solomon Islands. They coined the binomial name Hirundo vanikorensis. This swiftlet is now placed in the genus Aerodramus that was introduced in 1906 by Harry C. Oberholser.<p>Twelve subspecies are recognised:

Nombre científico

Aerodramus vanikorensis

Autoridad

(Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)

Orden

Apodiformes

Familia

Apodidae

Género

Aerodramus

Distribución y hábitat

This species is widespread from the Philippines through Wallacea, New Guinea and Melanesia. It has been recorded as a rare vagrant to Australia, from Cape York Peninsula and islands in Torres Strait.<p>The uniform swiftlet forages over lowland forests and open areas. It roosts in caves and sinkholes, mostly in limestone areas. The caves may be as little as 10 m (33 ft) long but are usually much larger. Sometimes man-made tunnels or structures are used.

Migración

Resident species

Comportamiento

This species feeds on flying insects, especially ants.<p>This species nests colonially in caves where it uses echolocation to navigate. The nest is a shallow cup of mossy material and saliva, usually attached to a vertical surface of a cave wall in the completely dark zone. On Guam, Neckeropsis lepiniana, is used as the nesting material and in Hawaii, a liverwort (Herberta spp.) is used. One or two white eggs form the clutch. The incubation period is at least twelve days and the young may take thirty-five days to fledge.