Purple needletail
Hirundapus celebensis (P. L. Sclater, 1866)
The purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis) is a species in the family Apodidae, order Apodiformes. Recorded adults weigh 180 g to 183.2 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the purple needletail
- Weight
- 180 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the purple needletail live?
Not recorded
What is the purple needletail?
The purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis), or hagibas in Tagalog, is arguably the largest swift in the world . It is native to the Philippine archipelago and the Minahasa Peninsula (Sulawesi).
From the Wikipedia article “Purple needletail” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Purple_needletail&oldid=1363347777), 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 purple needletail endangered?
The purple needletail 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.
How is the purple needletail classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderApodiformes
- familyApodidae
- genusHirundapus
- SpeciesHirundapus celebensis (P. L. Sclater, 1866)
Synonyms Chaetura gigantea celebensis, Hirund-apus giganteus celebensis, Hirundapus celebensis celebensis
Other names and names in other languages (31)
- دبوسي الذيل الأرجوانيArabic
- falciot cuaespinós porpraCatalan
- rorýs fialovohřbetýCzech
- llostfain SwlawesiWelsh
- PurpurtornhalesejlerDanish
- PurpurseglerGerman
- purpura apodoEsperanto
- Vencejo de CélebesSpanish
- purpur-kammsabaEstonian
- celebesinkiitäjäFinnish
- Martinet des CélèbesFrench
- ljubičastoleđa čiopaCroatian
- bíbor sarlósfecskeHungarian
- Kapinis-jarum unguIndonesian
- Rondone codaspinosa violaceoItalian
- セレベスハリオアマツバメJapanese
- sulavesinis hirundapasLithuanian
- Zwarte StekelstaartgierzwaluwDutch
- glansseilerNorwegian
- igłosternik czarnogardłyPolish
- andorinhão-púrpuraPortuguese
- andorinhão-violáceoPortuguese
- Пурпурный колючехвостRussian
- Пурпурный иглохвостый стрижRussian
- srp purpurovýSlovak
- Ljubičasta iglorepa čiopaSerbian
- purpurtaggstjärtseglareSwedish
- Mor İğnekuyrukTurkish
- колючохвіст пурпуровийUkrainian
- 紫針尾雨燕Chinese
- 紫针尾雨燕Chinese
Relatives of the purple needletail
Other species in the same genus Hirundapus.
White-throated needletail
Hirundapus caudacutus
Brown-backed needletail
Hirundapus giganteus
Silver-backed needletail
Hirundapus cochinchinensis
ComparePurple needletail vs White-throated needletailPurple needletail vs Brown-backed needletailPurple needletail vs Silver-backed needletail
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the purple needletail?
An adult purple needletail weighs 180 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the purple needletail endangered?
The purple needletail 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 purple needletail?
The purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis) belongs to the family Apodidae in the order Apodiformes.
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). Purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-needletail
“Purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-needletail.
@misc{purple_needletail_2026,
title = {Purple needletail (Hirundapus celebensis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/purple-needletail},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}