One species, the whiskered treeswift, is a species of primary forest. Highly manoeuvrable, it feeds close to vegetation beneath the canopy, and only rarely ventures into secondary forests or plantations, but never over open ground. Other species are less restricted; the crested treeswift makes use of a range of habitats including humid forests and deciduous woodland, and the grey-rumped treeswift occupies almost every habitat type available from the mangrove forests to hill forests. All species feed on insects, although exact details of what prey are taken has not been studied in detail.
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The crested treeswift (Hemiprocne coronata) is a kind of tree swift. It was for some time considered the same species as its eastern relative, the grey- rumped treeswift (Hemiprocne longipennis), but they do not interbreed where their ranges overlap. It is distinct in flight, with long, bowed wings and a deeply forked tail that usually appears narrow and pointed.
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The crested treeswift feeds in the air, capturing insects (including honey bees) on the wing with its bill. They are known to sometimes roost communally.
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A female. The tips of the primaries nearly reach the tail tip. The crested treeswift is a large slender bird at length. This species is dove grey above and white below.
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The crested treeswift has a very large range, the population size seems stable and it is considered relatively common. For these reasons, the IUCN has listed it as being of "Least Concern".
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They also have diastataxic wings, that is they lack a fifth secondary feather unlike swifts in the Apdodini which are eutaxic. Moustached treeswift on its nest. Biak, New Guinea. The treeswifts exhibit a wide range of habitat preferences.
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The moustached treeswift (Hemiprocne mystacea) is a species of bird in the family Hemiprocnidae. It is found in the northern Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck and the Solomon Islands archipelagos. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
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The crested treeswift is a common resident breeder from the Indian subcontinent. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and China. These are birds of open woodland and deciduous forests. They are also found in open areas near trees and in parks and gardens.
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The whiskered treeswift (Hemiprocne comata) is a species of bird in the family Hemiprocnidae. It is the smallest of 4 species in genus Hemiprocne and is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.
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The long swept-back wings are a darker grey above. This treeswift has a crest and a long, deeply forked tail. The adult male has orange cheeks and ear coverts with a narrow streak of white under the eye and a trace of a white supercilium. The female has a thin white stripe below the eye running along the cheek.
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The grey-rumped treeswift (Hemiprocne longipennis) is a species of bird in the Hemiprocnidae family. There are currently four extant species in the family. Like the other members of Hemiprocnidae, this species is closely related to true swifts as well. However, unlike true swifts, the treeswifts are arboreal in nature, often seen perched on trees, high tension power transmission lines and on pylons.
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The scavenger group of birds has 6 recorded species of vultures. Some of the typical species of Gir include crested serpent eagle, endangered Bonelli's eagle, changeable hawk- eagle, brown fish owl, Indian eagle-owl, rock bush-quail, Indian peafowl, brown-capped pygmy woodpecker, black-headed oriole, crested treeswift and Indian pitta. The Indian grey hornbill was not found from the last census of 2001.
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The crested treeswift builds a tiny and thin-walled and shallow nest made up of pieces of bark and feathers which is glued with saliva to the side of an exposed tree branch. It lays one blue-grey egg which is incubated by both sexes. The nest is so small that incubating birds may just appear as if just normally perched on a branch having a knot. Adults may also sit along the branch when incubating.
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Similarly, A. broweri is occasionally considered to be based on small individuals of A. wetmorei, and these latter two taxa were recently separated as genus Mesogiornis (Mlíkovský, 2002); this does not appear to have found general acceptance however. The presumed species Aegialornis szarskii is now placed in Scaniacypselus. Which genera apart from the present one should be included in the Aegialornithidae is not quite certain. Primapus belongs either here or is a basal true swift, and Cypselavus is either an aegialornithid or a treeswift.
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Indian Paradise Flycatcher - Female - Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, Chandrapur, Maharashtra, female guarding its nest weaved on a bamboo twig. Other bird species found in the reserve include the orange-headed thrush, Indian pitta, crested treeswift, stone curlew, crested honey buzzard, paradise flycatcher, bronze-winged jacana, lesser goldenbacked woodpecker, various warblers, black-naped blue flycatcher and the Indian peafowl. Peafowl in Tadoba 74 species of butterflies have been recorded including pansies, monarchs, mormons and swordtails. Insect species include the endangered danaid egg-fly and great eggfly.
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The national park is the last stronghold of the endangered Bali myna Some 160 animal species can be found inside the park. Mammals include the banteng, rusa deer, Indian muntjac, wild boar, large flying fox and leopard cat. Birds include crested serpent-eagle, milky stork, savanna nightjar, barn swallow, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, crested treeswift, dollarbird, black-naped oriole, Java sparrow, Javan lutung, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, black racket-tailed treepie, sacred kingfisher, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and the critically endangered Bali myna. Reptiles include hawksbill turtle and water monitor.
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Crossing the river The Kelani river is wide at Kitulgala, but it is shallow apart from a deep channel near the opposite bank, so in the drier months it provides a safe and attractive place to swim, wash and play. The river can be crossed by walking out across the shallows and crossing the deep channel in a dugout canoe, which is stabilised with an outrigger. Sri Lanka's most recently discovered bird, the Serendib scops owl was originally heard calling by Deepal Warakagoda in these forests. The hills above the rubber plantations also have mountain hawk eagle, crested treeswift and Layard's parakeet.
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Others include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent- eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long- tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret. Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s.
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