- Aglaiocercus coelestis
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:
- A.c. aethereus:
- Andes of south-western Ecuador
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
- 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.
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Violet-tailed Sylph. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 12 October 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Violet-tailed_Sylph
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
