Nesting of Little Swifts or Indian House Swifts, as they are also called in the Indian Sub-continent, was the last thing I had imagined of witnessing during our trip to Lepakshi Temple. These are birds that I usually see when birding spots around Bangalore, like The Valley School. I had also seen their nests and I had always been curious on how they managed to fly in and out of their nests. Well, my questions on that got answered along with bunch more 😀 .

I was on a visit to Lepakshi Temple along with my wife in the month of June. While walking inside the temple complex, I heard a few bird calling. Looking up I noticed several Little Swifts flying around. I gave them several glances and moved on; nothing unusual caught my eye. After quite a bit later, as I was admiring the Kalyana Mantapa, I noticed several Little Swifts flying in and out of the roof of the structure containing the Hanuman Plaque. Hmm, that got me curious. I decided to take a closer look. And there it was; they had build their nests under the roof of the structure.

They were flying in, hanging on to their nests!

Sometimes, there seemed to be competition between the adults visiting. I could not make out what it was for.

Focusing in on a particular hole, I noticed a head peering out; some even had two!

I was not able to determine if they were young ones peering out or was it one of the parents sitting on the eggs. Either ways it was a treat to watch them. I also one adult feeding one.

I also got to see one of the adults go into the nest and then some time later exit out. They sure can fit in tight spaces!

Video

I managed to capture some video clips that I have put together below: