Other Names (World)
Brown-backed Needletail, Brown Needletail, Giant Brown Needletail, Giant Brown Needletail, Brown Spinetailed Swift, Brown Spinetail, Brown-throated Spinetailed Swift, Brown-throated Spinetail
Brown-backed Needletail (Hirundapus giganteus) [XC97294]
by id from Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area - Logpond at HQ, Cambodia (flight call)
Nest
A crevice of a cliff face.
Subspecies
Genus formerly merged into Chaetura. Forms superspecies with Purple Needletail (Hirundapus celebensis), with which in past sometimes considered conspecific. A single specimen from western Java, previously separated as form ernsti and variously treated as a distinct species or a subspecies of present species, now synonymized with subspecies cochinchinensis of Silver-backed Needletail (Hirundapus cochinchinensis).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
indicus (Hume, 1873) - South-western India and Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh eastern into south-eastern Asia, and Andaman Is.