House Sparrow vs Long-tailed Sylph

Passer domesticus compared with Aglaiocercus kingii

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	House Sparrow	Long-tailed Sylph
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Passeriformes (Songbirds)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Passeridae	Trochilidae
Genus	Passer	Aglaiocercus
Species	Passer domesticus	Aglaiocercus kingii

Evolutionary Relationship

House Sparrow and Long-tailed Sylph share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

House Sparrow

LC — Least Concern

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	House Sparrow	Long-tailed Sylph
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

House Sparrow

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, and tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, among 6 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (25 countries), Asia (4 countries), Europe (7 countries), North America (15 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu), and South America (8 countries).

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

House Sparrow

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 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.

Long-tailed Sylph

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.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇳🇴 Norway 🇻🇪 Venezuela