Fairy martin
Petrochelidon ariel (Gould, 1842)
The fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel) is a species in the family Hirundinidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 10.8 g to 11.3 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
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Quick facts about the fairy martin
- Weight
- 10.8 g – 11.3 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- wetlandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Partialsrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the fairy martin live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The fairy martin is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
What is the fairy martin?
The fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel) is a member of the swallow family of passerine birds which breeds in Australia. It is migratory wintering through most of Australia, with some birds reaching New Guinea and Indonesia. It is increasingly a wanderer to New Zealand, where it may have bred. This species is frequently placed in the genus Hirundo as Hirundo ariel.
This is a bird of open country near water, and is usually seen near its nest sites in cliffs, culverts or bridges.
From the Wikipedia article “Fairy martin” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fairy_martin&oldid=1314283543), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the fairy martin endangered?
The fairy martin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the fairy martin classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyHirundinidae
- genusPetrochelidon
- SpeciesPetrochelidon ariel (Gould, 1842)
Synonyms Cecropis ariel, Collocalia ariel, Hirundo ariel, Lagenoplastes ariel, Petrochelidon ariel ariel, Petrochelidon ariel ariel, Petrochelidon ariel conigravi
Other names and names in other languages (33)
- Bottle swallowEnglish
- خطاف الجنيةArabic
- oreneta arielCatalan
- vlaštovka australskáCzech
- AlfesvaleDanish
- ArielschwalbeGerman
- fea hirundoEsperanto
- Golondrina arielSpanish
- punapea-kaljupääsukeEstonian
- پرستوی پریPersian
- keijupääskyFinnish
- Hirondelle arielFrench
- riđoglava lastavicaCroatian
- Layang-layang bidadariIndonesian
- Rondine fataItalian
- Rondine arielItalian
- Rondine fatataItalian
- ズアカガケツバメJapanese
- paprastoji klifinė kregždėLithuanian
- FeezwaluwDutch
- alvesvaleNorwegian
- jaskółka aborygeńskaPolish
- andorinha-fadaPortuguese
- andorinha-ruivaPortuguese
- Lăstun arielRomanian
- Разноцветная ласточкаRussian
- Красивая горная ласточкаRussian
- lastovička čarovnáSlovak
- Vilinska lastaSerbian
- arielsvalaSwedish
- Hint KırlangıcıTurkish
- ясківка тасманійськаUkrainian
- 彩石燕Chinese
Relatives of the fairy martin
Other species in the same genus Petrochelidon.
Cliff swallow
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Streak-throated swallow
Petrochelidon fluvicola
Cave swallow
Petrochelidon fulva
Tree martin
Petrochelidon nigricans
Red sea cliff swallow
Petrochelidon perdita
South African cliff swallow
Petrochelidon spilodera
CompareFairy martin vs Cliff swallowFairy martin vs Streak-throated swallowFairy martin vs Cave swallowFairy martin vs Tree martin
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the fairy martin?
An adult fairy martin weighs 10.8 g – 11.3 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the fairy martin live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the fairy martin for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
Is the fairy martin endangered?
The fairy martin is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
What kind of animal is the fairy martin?
The fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel) belongs to the family Hirundinidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-martin
“Fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-martin.
@misc{fairy_martin_2026,
title = {Fairy martin (Petrochelidon ariel)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/fairy-martin},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}