- Aglaiocercus kingii
Identification
Male: tail up to 4.5 inches, = 114 mm or more than half the length (much shorter in female). Male is mostly green with bluish highlights on throat, darker green in face and paler on crown, with white leggings, and the long outer tail feathers blue (rest of tail feathers shorter and greentipped, but normally held closed so does not usually give impression of scissor-tail).
Female: underparts cinnamon to orange, with white leggings, white chin and throat with green spots in rows, and green wash to flanks and undertail area. Upperside mostly green with blue fore-crown and front and blue tail
Similar species
Female from female Violet-tailed Sylph by green top and rear crown with blue limited to front part of crown, while entire crown is blue in Violet-tailed.
Distribution
South America: found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
Taxonomy
Six subspecies are recognized[1]:
- A.k. margarethae:
- Mountains of north-central and coastal Venezuela
- A.k. caudatus:
- A.k. emmae:
- A.k. kingi:
- Eastern Andes of Colombia
- A.k. mocoa:
- A.k. smaragdinus:
Habitat
Cloud Forest, forest borders, coffee forest, gardens, and other semi-open areas with flowering trees or bushes; observed at 2100m.
Behaviour
May have a regular route for visiting spread out flowers or may defend an area with many flowers. Are known to pierce holes at bottom of the flower of corolla.
Diet
Nectar. Readily visits feeders.
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Long-tailed Sylph. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 13 November 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Long-tailed_Sylph
