Long-tailed Sylph vs Violet crabgrass

Aglaiocercus kingii compared with Digitaria violascens

Key Differences

• Long-tailed Sylph is Least Concern while Violet crabgrass is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Long-tailed Sylph	Violet crabgrass
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)	Poales (Grasses)
Family	Trochilidae	Poaceae (Grass Family)
Genus	Aglaiocercus	Digitaria
Species	Aglaiocercus kingii	Digitaria violascens

Conservation Status

Long-tailed Sylph

LC — Least Concern

Violet crabgrass

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Long-tailed Sylph	Violet crabgrass
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.

Violet crabgrass

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Range

Widely distributed across Africa (South Africa), Asia (4 countries), Europe (7 countries), North America (Costa Rica, Mexico, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (9 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 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇻🇪 Venezuela