Empress Brilliant vs Yellow-billed Cacique

Heliodoxa imperatrix compared with Amblycercus holosericeus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Empress Brilliant	Yellow-billed Cacique
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Passeriformes (Songbirds)
Family	Trochilidae	Icteridae
Genus	Heliodoxa	Amblycercus
Species	Heliodoxa imperatrix	Amblycercus holosericeus

Evolutionary Relationship

Empress Brilliant and Yellow-billed Cacique share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Empress Brilliant

LC — Least Concern

Yellow-billed Cacique

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Empress Brilliant	Yellow-billed Cacique
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Empress Brilliant

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, and Norway.

Yellow-billed Cacique

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Empress Brilliant

A large, brilliantly colored hummingbird of humid Andean forests in Colombia and Ecuador, male empress brilliants are among the most striking hummingbirds with iridescent green and violet plumage and glittering scales across their throat and breast. Found at elevations between 1,000–2,100 meters in cloud forest. Named in honor of Empress Eugenie of France, these powerful birds aggressively defend territory around flowering trees. Listed as Least Concern with stable populations in remaining Andean forest.

Yellow-billed Cacique

Yellow-billed Cacique (Amblycercus holosericeus) is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List. Widespread and abundant across its range, with stable populations and no immediate conservation concerns.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 3 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇳🇴 Norway