Long-tailed Sylph vs Nutgrass

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Cyperus rotundus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Nutgrass
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Poales (Grasses)
Family	Trochilidae	Cyperaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Cyperus
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Cyperus rotundus

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Nutgrass

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Nutgrass
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Long-tailed Sylph

Habitat

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

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Nutgrass

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, flooded grasslands and savannas, and montane grasslands and shrublands, among 8 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (18 countries), Asia (20 countries), Europe (11 countries), North America (12 countries), Oceania and the Pacific (14 countries), and South America (7 countries).

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 3 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway 🇻🇪 Venezuela