The Brown-backed needletail or brown needletail (Hirundapus giganteus), is a species of large swift in the Apodidae family. These birds have very short legs which they use only mainly for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground and spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. These swifts are resident breeders in hill forests in southern Asia from India east to Indonesia and the Philippines.