Long-tailed Sylph vs Painted Bunting

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Passerina ciris

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Painted Bunting is Near Threatened.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Painted Bunting
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	Cardinalidae
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Passerina
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Passerina ciris

Evolutionary Relationship

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

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Painted Bunting

NT — Near Threatened

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Painted Bunting
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.

Painted Bunting

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (6 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia). Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

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.

Painted Bunting

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List. Close to qualifying as threatened, with populations that may become vulnerable without conservation action.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 2 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇳🇴 Norway