Hirundapus cochinchinensis
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In 3 days <5%
The silver-backed needletail (Hirundapus cochinchinensis) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Southeast Asia, Sumatra, Java and Taiwan. It is a vagrant to Christmas Island. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. Wikipedia →
Flight call0:16
Taiwan · 1983
© Jelle Scharringa · XC611446 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cat Tien National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 2 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | |
| 4 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 5 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Taroko National Park | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | |
| 7 | Taman Negara National Park | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 8 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Silver-backed Needletail sighting in Taroko National Park on a given day, based on 11 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 131st most-seen of the 147 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Silver-backed Needletail in Taroko National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Silver-backed Needletail sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Silver-backed Needletail sightings, Taroko National Park ranks 6th at under 5%. The best odds are in Cat Tien National Park (Vietnam, about 10%), Khao Yai National Park (Thailand, under 5%) and Cuc Phuong National Park (Vietnam, under 5%).
Same family: Apodidae
The closest relatives of the Silver-backed Needletail that you can see in Taroko National Park (family Apodidae, Swifts) are House Swift (about 20%) and Pacific Swift (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Silver-backed Needletail is recorded against all the birds logged in Taroko National Park (11 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
