Long-tailed Sylph

Long-tailed Sylph

Aglaiocercus kingii

Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Manu National Park

In 3 days <5%

6 Verified sightings at Manu National Park From 2019 to 2026
1,476 In all 6 parks
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Long-tailed Sylph

The long-tailed sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) is a species of hummingbird in the "coquettes", tribe Lesbiini of subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The taxonomy of genus Aglaiocercus and of the long-tailed sylph in particular are complicated. The genus also includes two other sylphs, the violet-tailed (A. coelestis) and Venezuelan (A. berlepschi), and the three have several times been suggested to be either one or two species. Several additional species have been proposed for inclusion but they have almost conclusively been shown to be hybrids with kingii or one of the other sylphs. Since at least the early 2000s taxonomists have settled on the three-species treatment.

The long-tailed sylph has these six accepted subspecies. However, early in the 20th century, caudatus and mocoa were treated by some authors as separate species. Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call1:15

Colombia · 1998

© Bernabé López-Lanus (Colección de Sonidos Ambientales - Instituto Humboldt) · XC518241 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Alarm call0:51

Colombia · 2013

© Oscar H. Marín-Gómez · XC128290 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Flight call0:09

Ecuador · 2021

© Manuel Sánchez-Nivicela · XC1156647 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Henri Pittier National Park 🇻🇪 Venezuela
~30%
2 Los Nevados National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
~20%
3 Farallones de Cali National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
~10%
4 Podocarpus National Park 🇪🇨 Ecuador
~10%
5 Chingaza National Natural Park 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%
6 Manu National Park 🇵🇪 Peru
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bogota 🇨🇴 Colombia
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Long-tailed Sylph in Manu National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Sylph sighting in Manu National Park on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 623rd most-seen of the 641 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Long-tailed Sylph in Manu National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Long-tailed Sylph in Manu National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see a Long-tailed Sylph?

Between 9 am and noon

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Long-tailed Sylph sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where does the Long-tailed Sylph sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Long-tailed Sylph is recorded against all the birds logged in Manu National Park (6 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.

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