Violet-tailed Sylph - BirdForum Opus

Aglaiocercus coelestis

Male
Photo by cfagyal
Tandayapa, Ecuador, September 2004

Identification

Female 9-10 cm, male up to 19 cm: medium sized hummingbird where male has a long tail.
Male has green upperside with crown and front blue, uppertail coverts bluish and tail blue to violet. Underside mostly fawn-colored with a violet-blue throat patch.
Female has much shorter tail, a similar upperside including the blue crown, while underside has rust on breast and belly, white upper breast and throat, where the upper throat is speckled with green, shiny spots.

Similar species

Overlaps in distribution with Long-tailed Sylph

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia and Ecuador.

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Two subspecies are recognized:

• A.c. coelestis:

• Pacific slope of Western Andes of Colombia and northern Ecuador

• A.c. aethereus:

• Andes of south-western Ecuador

Female
Photo by rdavis
Northern Ecuador, October 2009

Habitat

Subtropical Andean cloudforest, observed at heights of 5600 feet.

Behaviour

Readily comes to hummingbird feeders. In natural environments found low to medium in the forest but rarely in canopy.

References

1. 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.
2. BF Member observations

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Violet-tailed Sylph. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Violet-tailed_Sylph

External Links

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