The Marquesan swiftlet is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is endemic to French Polynesia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
Region
Polynesia
Typical Environment
Found across forested valleys, ridges, and coastal slopes of the Marquesas Islands. It frequents subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests but also forages above secondary growth, plantations, and open clearings. Nesting sites are typically in caves, rock overhangs, or steep cliff crevices near foraging grounds. Birds often range widely over the canopy and along shorelines where aerial insects concentrate.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This swiftlet is endemic to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia and typically nests on cliffs and in caves, where it can navigate using simple echolocation clicks. Like other swiftlets, it builds small cup nests chiefly from hardened saliva. It spends most of its life on the wing, catching tiny insects over forests, ridges, and coastal areas.
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with swift, agile glides
Social Behavior
Often forages in loose groups and nests colonially where suitable cave or cliff sites are available. Pairs are thought to be monogamous during the breeding season, attaching saliva-built cup nests to rock surfaces. Parents share incubation and feeding duties, commuting frequently between foraging areas and the nest.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Primarily high, thin twittering and trills given in flight. Inside dark roosts or nesting caves it produces sharp clicking calls used for simple echolocation.
Plumage
Uniform sooty-brown to dusky with slightly paler underparts; long, narrow, scythe-like wings and a short, shallowly forked tail.
Diet
An aerial insectivore that hawks small flying insects such as midges, mosquitoes, and tiny beetles. Prey is taken on the wing at varying heights, often above the canopy or along windward slopes. During calm conditions it may forage lower over clearings, streams, and coastal edges where insects concentrate.
Preferred Environment
Feeds over forest edges, ridgelines, valleys, and coastal zones, often exploiting updrafts and insect swarms. It also works above secondary growth and around settlements when insect abundance is high.
