Bird's Nest Soup

Bird's nests soup is very popular among the Chinese. With the right concoctions its supposed to balance up the yang the ying. And in the market they are sold by weight called 'tahil', a fraction of an ounce. These bird's nests, to make into good bird's nest soup is a very expensive item.

When one think about bird's nest one always think about dark caves in some remote regions of Asia (Borneo or South Thailand) where these birds nests are collected, probably in the high ceilings of these caves, vision of some half naked natives climbing flimsy bamboo poles or such similar structures. These natives are paid pittance compared to what these bird's nests are worth in the open market in any Asian country.

Reference may be made to Wikipedia or some other web pages for more regarding these bird's nests, their descriptions and their market values.

Bird's nests that are consumed are those "Authentic bird's nest soup made using the nests of the swiftlet, a tiny bird found throughout southeast Asia."

Due to its high market value, it is now becoming a lucrative business where swiftlets are made to make their nests in the urban area. Mostly of these are in buildings in the urban areas made especially to attract these swiftlets during the seasons when they are aplenty; in Malaysia mostly in the monsoon and rainy seasons, they being migratory birds.

The building owners use artificial sounds, using recorded swiftlet calls, in these buildings, via some high pitched speakers, to attract these fast flying swiftlets to enter into specially made rooms where they will make nests. These nests are collected after a certain period, and sold into the open market. During those collection periods normally these swiftlets have already flown away, migrating to another country where the weather suits them. Some of these rooms are specially made structures above the roofs of the buildings.

I am told that not only such usage of buildings are happening in my towns (and probably cities), but also in rural areas where they make special houses and buildings just for the purposes of attracting these birds, inducing them to make nests and collecting the edible part of the bird 's nests to be marketed.

It's a very lucrative business.