Long-tailed Sylph vs owl's-eye

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Mammillaria parkinsonii

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while owl's-eye is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	owl's-eye
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales)
Family	Trochilidae	Cactaceae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Mammillaria
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Mammillaria parkinsonii

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

owl's-eye

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	owl's-eye
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.

owl's-eye

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Distributed across Brazil and Taiwan. Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

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.