Borneo Bird Nest

House nest is made by swiftlets that nest under the roof of houses in the countryside. The texture of house nest are smoother compared to those of cave nest, and with less feathers and other contaminants.

Cave nest are mainly harvested from natural caves in eastern Sarawak and Sabah (two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo). These caves are scattered in the state's various forest reserves, natural parks and coastal islands. The more famous of these caves are located at Niah, Kakus, Baram and Tinjar.

Since cave nests are "made" by free, naturally-living swallows, some consider them to be more valuable than house nests, and they often fetch a higher price. Cave nest generally contains more dirt and feather than house nest. However, the nest in piece as shown in the picture has been cleaned thoroughly during the packaging process.

The red or blood nest is the highest grade of its kind and has a bright red colour. It has been rated as the supreme delicacy rich in nutrition and the demand is high. Its rarity is due to less house have this kind of nest and the nest can only be harvested 1 to 2 times. Besides, it only shares about 5% of overall bird nest market. Therefore, the selling price is higher than others.

Some people believe that the bird's nests of reddish brown colour are produced by the mother birds who have to rebuild the nests for several times until their saliva becomes blood. Recently, many researchers have found that what causes the reddish brown colour is the chemical reaction among oxygen, iron and humidity which results in rust. Humidity also stimulates the rust to be absorbed into the nest making them reddish brown.

The flower or gold nest has a bright dark-orange color, like a tangerine peel. It is from the same swiflet species that produce RED or BLOOD nest but the selling price is slightly lower.

This is the same pure bird's nest sold in most retail outlets as gift packs or piecemeal in South East Asia as mostly came from the same supplier from Sarawak.