Crested Treeswift Hemiprocne coronata Scientific name definitions

23–25 cm. Adult has crest dark greenish-blue, 2·5–3 cm tall. Male uniformly pale greeny-grey from central crown to uppertail-coverts; lores black, finely bordered white above; anterior ear-coverts, lower face , chin and variable extent of throat rufous; wing-coverts glossy greenish-black; underwing-coverts pale grey, concolorous with breast and flanks, and belly and undertail-coverts whitish. Differs from H. longipennis in tail-streamers projecting well past folded wingtips, but also by overall paler upperparts without contrastingly pale rump, less contrast to underparts and between covers and flight-feathers on underwing, brighter and larger face patch, and bluish (rather than greenish) gloss to upperparts (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ). Female lacks rufous on face, has grey-black ear-coverts and cheeks, white moustachial stripe and grey chin and throat; dark face patch more contrasting than in female H. longipennis (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ). Juvenile a finely banded mixture of sooty-black, rufous, buff and white, predominantly dark above, with pale forehead and lateral coronal band, and white spot in front of eye; first-winter has adult-type body feathers, but retains juvenile wing and tail feathers (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ).

Sri Lanka, and India (W to Uttarakhand, E Rajasthan and SE Gujarat), S Nepal and S Bhutan E to Myanmar, S China (SW Yunnan), NC & W Thailand (S to Kaeng Krachan) and S Indochina.

Scattered trees, groves, and edge and canopy breaks of more or less continuous, fully to mainly deciduous forest (dry dipterocarp, teak, Lannea coromandelica, Boswellia serrata and Anogeissus latifolia (2 Trivedi, P. and Soni, V.C. (2006). Significant bird records and local extinctions in Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries, Gujarat, India. Forktail. 22: 39–48. Close ), etc.); also tall secondary growth and, marginally at upper limit of range, semi-evergreen forest. Selects bare, exposed perches on outer surface of the canopy. From plains level to about 1300 m in Indian Subcontinent, to 1400 m in SE Asia.

Mainly resident; seasonal dispersive movements are perhaps only local, e.g. very rare summer visitor to Tons Valley, Dehra Dun (India) (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ); records from Bangladesh (of which only two in recent decades, in Apr 1979 and Nov 1983) (3 Thompson, P. M., W. G. Harvey, D. L. Johnson, D. J. Millin, S. M. A. Rashid, D. A. Scott, C. Stanford, and J. D. Woolner (1993). Recent notable bird records from Bangladesh. Forktail 9:13–44. Close ) may refer to vagrants or to rare resident population.

Flying arthropods; diet said to include hemipteran bugs, beetles and small flies, but hardly analysed and proper details are lacking. Captures prey during long sorties out from high perches into free space clear of vegetation surfaces, including well above the forest canopy. Especially active towards dusk and often found in small groups of 6–12 individuals (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ).

Vocalizations typical of genus, being somewhat raptor-like, especially likened to Shikra (Accipiter badius), but more disyllabic than H. longipennis: a “kee-kyew”, with second note, given in flight, while perched call is a trisyllabic “kip-kee-kep”, with middle note emphasized (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ).

Season Dec–Oct overall, with regional variation; peak activity Jan–Apr in ­Indian Subcontinent, becoming bimodal (Mar–May and Jul–Sept) in Sri Lanka, and recorded Mar–Jun (peak Apr) (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ) in Myanmar. Nesting dispersed, but several pairs may occur in the same general area. Nest a half-saucer of hardened saliva incorporating small, sometimes overlapping papery flakes of bark and body feathers, c. 10–12 mm (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ) thick and built as a bracket 30–50 mm (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ) wide, 4–18 m up on a live, usually thin branch in open canopy. Lays one egg, which is glued to the nest, size (mean) 23·7 mm × 17·1 mm (1 Chantler, P., and G. Driessens (2000). Swifts: A Guide to the Swifts and Treeswifts of the World. 2nd edition. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, UK. Close ); incubation by both sexes, period unrecorded; nestling down grey; chick is brooded more or less continuously through the down-plumage stage, and fed by both parents; fledging period, 42 days in one instance (4 Venkatesh, S. (2016). At a nest of Crested Treeswifts Hemiprocne coronata. Indian Birds. 11(4): 109–111. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Patchily distributed and often local, but relatively common, and able to live close to human activity; rare in Bhutan, Bangladesh and NE India. Only recently recorded for first time in Bhutan, from Manas National Park (5 Inskipp, C., and T. Inskipp (1993). Birds recorded during a visit to Bhutan in spring 1993. Forktail 9:121–142. Close ). Known from Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries, Gujarat, NW India, with mean encounter rate of 0·86 individuals/km in second-named area (2 Trivedi, P. and Soni, V.C. (2006). Significant bird records and local extinctions in Purna and Ratanmahal Wildlife Sanctuaries, Gujarat, India. Forktail. 22: 39–48. Close ). Selection of edge habitat and capacity to use tall secondary growth suggest that it may have benefited from moderate forest disturbance. Under serious threat only in those areas where clearance has reached the point of severe tree loss.