Big quakinggrass vs Long-tailed Sylph

Briza maxima compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Key Differences

Big quakinggrass is Not Evaluated while Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Big quakinggrass	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Liliopsida (Monocots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Poales (Grasses)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Poaceae (Grass Family)	Trochilidae
Genus	Briza	Aglaiocercus
Species	Briza maxima	Aglaiocercus kingii

Conservation Status

Big quakinggrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Big quakinggrass	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Big quakinggrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (4 countries), Asia (4 countries), Europe (11 countries), North America (5 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia), and South America (5 countries).

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Big quakinggrass

The Big quakinggrass (Briza maxima) is a species in the genus Briza. Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

One of the most strikingly ornamented hummingbirds, male long-tailed sylphs have iridescent green plumage and dramatically elongated, ribbon-like outer tail feathers reaching up to 22 cm — over three times the body length. Found in Andean cloud forests of Colombia and Venezuela, they inhabit humid montane forest between 1,400–2,800 meters elevation. Males perform elaborate display flights to attract females. Their extravagant tails are a classic example of sexual selection via female preference.