The white-throated needletail (COURTESY PHOTO)

A bird that spends almost its entire life soaring through the skies has just made a surprise appearance in China’s Qinling Mountains. 

The white-throated needletail, a large and elusive swift species, was recorded for the first time near Xi’an, Shaanxi Province by the 2026 Raptor Spring Migration Monitoring Project. Its arrival is being hailed as proof that local conservation efforts are paying off. 

Sky aerialist  

The annual monitoring project, known as “Eagles over Qinling,” is part of a broader field study on the wild populations of raptors such as saker falcons in Shaanxi. The project aims to document raptor migration routes through the province and is jointly conducted by Shaanxi Institute of Zoology and Xi’an Wild Bird Conservation Association. While participating in the project, team members Sun Ying, Ma Caihong, and Lin Enci observed and recorded clear images of the white-throated needletail in flight. 

This bird, often dubbed as the “sky aerialist,” has a highly distinctive appearance. It measures about 21 cm in length. The crown to nape is dark brown with a delicate bluish-green metallic sheen. Its back, scapulars, and rump are silky brown. The upper tail coverts and tail feathers are entirely black, with the hallmark needle-like projection at the tip of each tail feather shaft. The wing coverts and flight feathers are black with purplish-blue and emerald-green iridescence. The chin and throat are strikingly pure white, transitioning to soft smoky brown and grayish-brown on the chest and belly. Adapted to a life of constant flight, the bird has flesh-colored feet and toes and greatly reduced legs, making it difficult for them to take off again after landing.  

The white-throated needletail typically inhabits open areas such as mountain forests and river valleys, feeding primarily on small flying insects like flies and beetles, as well as spiders. When hunting, it often skims low over the ground or water, swift and agile. Its unique habits defy common perception: It spends the vast majority of its life flying at high altitudes, conducting essential activities such as feeding, resting, and even mating entirely in the air, only landing briefly during the breeding season to nest and raise young. It is truly a “non-stop flyer” of the natural world. With its extremely streamlined, athletic build, its flight speed ranks among the top 10 fastest birds.  

More raptors in Xi’an   

As part of a critical migratory corridor for birds in central China, the Xi’an section of the Qinling Mountains, with its intact and stable ecosystem and abundant food sources, serves as a vital stopover for countless raptors and other migratory birds on their long journeys. This specialized monitoring effort focuses on nationally protected raptor species, conducting comprehensive field population surveys, tracking migration routes, counting individual numbers, and accurately identifying species. The data collected provides solid, precise support for the routine protection of regional raptors and for the assessment of the quality of the ecological environment. 

Project leader Zhang Xiaoyong noted that the monitoring has not only yielded exciting first-time bird sightings for Xi’an, including of the crested serpent eagle and the white-throated needletail, but also shown a number of other breakthroughs. As of now, the total number of raptor individuals recorded during this spring migration monitoring has increased by 16 percent compared to the autumn 2025 migration, while the number of raptor species has grown by 3 percent. The simultaneous increase in both the population and diversity of raptors, and the ongoing spectacle of life above the Qinling Mountains, vividly reflect the continued improvement of the regional ecological environment and the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation efforts.