While eating the nests of swifts is nothing new, the large-scale production of these nests is.  Already a $200 million a year industry largely concentrated in Malaysia and Thailand, the farming of swifts is now being ramped up in Vietnam.  Because they will rebuild the nests made of their own saliva when they are taken, and because they are worth more alive and building nests than they are dead, the practice does not harm the swifts and gives a positive economic incentive to conserve them.  This leaves one question: Can vegans eat swift nests?

Written by Corey
Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy and Desmond Shearwater. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.