--- title: The Edible Bird's Nest Trade | TIME description: Edible Bird's Nests canonical: https://time.com/video/q4hL2jN7/ og:title: The Edible Bird's Nest Trade og:description: Edible Bird's Nests og:url: https://time.com/video/q4hL2jN7/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/q4hL2jN7/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Edible Bird's Nest Trade twitter:description: Edible Bird's Nests twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/q4hL2jN7/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The Edible Bird's Nest Trade > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The Edible Bird's Nest Trade [Watch (HLS stream): The Edible Bird's Nest Trade](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/q4hL2jN7.m3u8) (4:27)  _Published 2014-12-04. Edible Bird's Nests_ --- Jul 27, 2023 5:36 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business](/video/c1FTUXs0/) ### Edible Bird's Nest Industry is Big Business [Warning: Halloween Candy Marijuana Edibles](/video/7DY6qYQ0/) ### Warning: Halloween Candy Marijuana Edibles [Alice Waters on Edible Education](/video/BRkbfoQ5/) ### Alice Waters on Edible Education --- ## Transcript Rain falls over Borneo and thousands of swiflets dart toward their underground homes. A distant cousin of the swallow this swiftlet has no peers when it comes to nesting. Instead of collecting twins, it produces a cement like secretion to produce nests high up on cave walls. Few predators reach them here. However, humans do. It's harvest in [ UNKNOWN ] Cave, one of the most bountiful swiftlet habitats in Southeast Asia. Over the course of 11 days, a team of workers will empty the walls of over a ton of nests. The nests will then be cleaned, packaged and shipped off to China, where they are in high demand for their supposed medicinal properties. For centuries, the Chinese have served [ INAUDIBLE ] nests in soups and desserts or dissolved them into rejuvenating tonics. It's an expensive habit since the nests are so inaccessible. Rare nests can fetch a couple of hundred US dollars causing some to call them the caviar of the East. As the Chinese middle class has grown demand for the product has skyrocketed mounting serious pressure on swiftlet colonies. Theft, corruption and over harvesting have completely eradicated the bird populations in some caves. In other caves, tribal management maintains a sustainable trade. The Edahan tribe has built a whole community around Madei Cave on northeast Borneo. For hundreds of years inhabitants have inherited a portion of the cave that they are allowed to harvest and village elders keep track of the lots. [ FOREIGN ] Every ten years we switch around so people get to pick in a different area. Says [ UNKNOWN ] Because of all the squabbling it's important to know the history and everyone's lineage. With demand high, business should be booming. But in fact prices have plummeted. And the [ UNKNOWN ] are finding it more difficult to make ends meet. Across the South East Asian subcontinent, buildings are modified to simulate cave habitats and equipped with sound systems to attract avian tenants. Swiftlet farms have become a huge industry and their nests now dwarf the cave variety. Because of their cheaper price farm nests have become popular among the middle class and haven't suffered that much from new Chinese restrictions on luxury products. Farmers also content that their nests are healthier. Since they can maintain a clean habitat for the birds. This is becoming increasingly important in China, where scandal involving contaminated nests in 2011 has caused the country to introduce strict laws governing the product. Environmentalists worry about how these mushrooming urban bird populations. May affect the ecosystem, and if they will lead to an increased risk of avian diseases. So far, however, almost no research is being done on the possible ecological and veterinary impacts of the multi- billion dollar industry of swiftlet farming. 72- year- old Sakuriya Bendrugi. Has already collected his last nest. After 59 years in the profession. His children have told him to consider the risks and stop. The August harvest in Komotong was his last. Still Zakaria passionately prescribes his line of work. [ FOREIGN ]. If any of my grandchildren would like to work in the caves too, I would happily support them, he says. Mess collectors face an uncertain future. If consumers are willing to continue to pay a premium for their products and the harvests are sustainably managed, they may be around for hundreds of years more. If the current development accelerates though, the wild swiftlets may soon be left alone in their cavernous homes across southeast Asia ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Edible Bird's Nest Trade","description":"Edible Bird's Nests","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/q4hL2jN7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-04T02:34:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/q4hL2jN7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/q4hL2jN7/","duration":"PT4M27S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/q4hL2jN7/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```