EFFORTS to use recorded birdsongs to attract swiftlets to build nests in Tanintharyi Division are bearing fruit and can boost the incomes of locals who export the nests for culinary and medicinal use, said researcher U Myint Thein from Myeik in southernmost Myanmar.

U Myint Thein presented a research paper on edible nests made by swiftlets at the Eighth Traditional Medicine Practitioners’ Conference last month in Yangon.

The birds make nests using their saliva, which hardens upon exposure to air. The nests are used by the Chinese to make bird’s nest soup, and are also thought to have medicinal properties, including boosting the immune system and prolonging life.

U Myint Thein said some residents have attracted swiftlets by building enclosed birdhouses and transmitting birdsongs through speakers from a CD two times a day for periods of four hours each.

“More than 60 birdhouses have been built in Myeik and swiftlets have moved into 45 of them to build nests. There are now more than 70 birds living in the first house to be built,” he said, adding that locals started building the houses in 2006 but the birds would not enter them at first.

He said swiftlets are found in Myanmar on 32 islands in Myeik Archipelago, an island in Ayeyarwady Division and a house on Strand Road in Myeik in which the birds have been building nests without prompting for more than 20 years.
“There are also four other houses in Myeik to which swiftlets naturally come to build nests,” said U Myint Thein.

He said birdhouses have also been built in Kawthaung and Bokpyin townships in Tanintharyi Division.

He said the price of swiftlet nests is increasing around the world, with one kilogram now selling for US$1600 on the international market, up from $400 in 1995.

Prices on the local market are K3.5 million a viss (3.6 pounds) for high-quality nests and K3 million for those of lower quality, while nests retrieved from the islands in the archipelago can fetch nearly K5 million a viss.

The nests are collected four times a year: March, April, July and December.
U Myint Thein said his research paper was the result of five years of study on swiftlets. He also arranged tests of nests at the Department of Traditional Medicine’s laboratory in 2004 to determine their content.

“We found that a 100-gram nest from an island cave contained 10 essential amino acids and two minerals,” he said.

He said the protein content was the same in nests from islands and houses, but island nests had more carbohydrates and calories while house nests contained more water.