Fareed Mohmed ← The Indian List

Bird Photography · The Indian List

Treeswifts

1 of 1 species photographed

A single species reaches India — Crested Treeswift — a close relative of the true swifts but built more like a bird that can actually perch. Unlike swifts, treeswifts land readily on bare high branches, sitting upright with the crest raised and the deeply forked tail hanging below the perch, and they hunt in the same swooping, acrobatic style as swifts, sallying out after flying insects and returning to the same exposed lookout.

1Species in India
1Photographed
Bare high branchesWhere to look
Aerial salliesHow it feeds
Crest and tail streamersThe field marks

The species

Crested Treeswift

Hemiprocne coronata3 frames
Status
Resident
Range
Peninsular and central India, absent from the north-west and much of the north-east
Habitat
Open forest, forest edge and groves with tall bare trees used as lookout perches
IUCN
Least Concern

Unmistakable at rest: a slim grey bird with a raised black crest, a rufous patch behind the eye, and a long, deeply forked tail that hangs well below the perch. In flight the silhouette turns swift-like — long swept-back wings and the tail drawn into two fine streaming points — as it sallies out from a bare branch to take insects on the wing and returns to the same perch, often in a small loose group.

FM0032
Jan 2021Sholur, The Nilgiris, Tamil NaduPerched on a lichen-covered branch, crest raised, rufous ear patch showing.

Photographs by Fareed Mohmed