Long-tailed Sylph
Common name: Long-tailed Sylph
Scientific name: Aglaiocercus kingii
Clades: Lesbiini - Coquettes
The male long-tailed sylphs are 16 to 19 cm (6.3 to 7.5 in) long including the 12 cm (4.7 in) outer tail feathers, and weigh 5 to 6 g (0.18 to 0.21 oz). The females are 9.7 to 11.7 cm (3.8 to 4.6 in) long and weigh 4.5 to 4.7 g (0.16 to 0.17 oz).
Long-tailed Sylphs are striking hummingbirds with extremely long tails. In the male, the majority of the body is emerald green, with a blue-green throat and a long forked tail. A female has a shorter tail, spotted throat, buffy belly, and a short white mustache stripe. Mostly found on the east slope of the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia, in foothills and subtropical zones between 1,200 and 2,500 meters. Visits feeders within cloud forests and at edges. Nests of Long-tailed Sylphs are suspended in clumps of moss with an entrance at one side and a tail at the other.
6 subspecies:
A. k. margarethae
Distribution mountains of NC and coastal Venezuela (Falcón E to Miranda).A. k. caudatus
Distribution Sierra de Perijá, and Andes of W Venezuela (Lara S to Táchira) and N Colombia (Norte de Santander).A. k. emmae
Distribution C Andes of N Colombia to W Andes of S Colombia and NW Ecuador (S to Pichincha).A. k. kingii
Distribution E Andes of Colombia (Santander S to Cundinamarca).A. k. mocoa
Distribution C Andes of S Colombia (E Nariño), Ecuador and N Peru (to Cajamarca).A. k. smaragdinus
Distribution E Andes of Peru (S from Amazonas) and WC Bolivia (to Cochabamba).
taken in Colombia
taken in Peru
