Langschwanzsylphe

Bestimmung

The male long-tailed sylphs are 18 to 21 cm (7.1 to 8.3 in) long including the 10 to 15 cm (3.9 to 5.9 in) outer tail feathers. Females are 9.5 to 9.7 cm (3.7 to 3.8 in) long. The species weighs 4.6 to 5.2 g (0.16 to 0.18 oz). Both subspecies have a short black bill. Males of the nominate subspecies have a shining green crown and back, that becomes violet-blue on the rump. They have a buffy spot behind the eye, a violet-blue gorget, and green underparts. The inner tail feathers are short and the outer ones very long, and the feathers are iridescent metallic violet with blue tips. Nominate females have a glittering blue crown and a whitish spot behind the eye; otherwise their upperparts are similar to the male's. Their throat is white with green spots and is separated by a white band from the cinnamon-rufous underparts. Their tail is short and unforked, bluish green with white tips on the outer feathers. Juveniles have dull green upperparts, buffy green underparts, and buffy fringes on the head feathers. <p>Males of subspecies A. c. aethereus have a green gorget and females a lightly spotted throat but both are otherwise essentially the same as the nominate.

Taxonomie

The taxonomy of genus Aglaiocercus and of the violet-tailed sylph in particular are complicated. The genus also includes two other sylphs, the long-tailed (A. kingii) and Venezuelan (A. berlepschi), and the three have several times been suggested to be either one species, or two with the violet-tailed being a subspecies of long-tailed. Several additional species have been proposed for inclusion but they have almost conclusively been shown to be hybrids with kingii or one of the other sylphs. Since at least the early 2000s taxonomists have settled on the three-species treatment. The violet-tailed sylph has two subspecies, the nominate A. c. coelestis and A. c. aethereus.

Wissenschaftlicher Name

Aglaiocercus coelestis

Autorität

(Gould, 1861)

Ordnung

Apodiformes

Familie

Trochilidae

Gattung

Aglaiocercus

Verbreitung und Lebensraum

The nominate subspecies of violet-tailed sylph is found from the Pacific slope of Colombia's Western Andes into north and central Ecuador. A. c. aethereus is found on the Andes' Pacific slope in southwestern Ecuador between El Oro and Loja provinces. The species inhabits cloudforest and semi-open landscapes like the transition of forest to grassland and grassland with trees and shrubs. It is most numerous at about 1,000 m (3,300 ft) of elevation but occurs as low as 300 m (980 ft) and as high as 2,100 m (6,900 ft).

Zugverhalten

Standvogel

Verhalten

Zugverhalten: Standvogel.

Schutzstatus

Bestandstrend: stabil.

Bestandstrend

stabil