Long-tailed Sylph Identification Guide

Key Field Marks

• Size & shape: A medium hummingbird whose male is dominated by an extraordinarily long, deeply forked tail that can be two to three times the length of the body — one of the most dramatic tails of any hummingbird.
• Male plumage: Glittering green body with a shining blue-violet crown, and the signature elongated, iridescent blue-green tail streamers.
• Female plumage: Much shorter, notched (not deeply forked) tail; green above, buffy below with green spangling across the throat.
• Behavior: Feeds at flowering shrubs and trees along forest edges and clearings, often perching between feeding bouts (unlike some hummingbirds that hover constantly), which allows better views of the tail.

Separating from Similar Species

• Violet-tailed Sylph: Very similar in shape, but its tail is violet-blue rather than blue-green, and it replaces Long-tailed Sylph on the Pacific slope of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador, while Long-tailed Sylph occupies the eastern Andean slopes from Venezuela south to Bolivia — range is often the quickest way to separate the two.
• Other long-tailed hummingbirds (e.g., trainbearers): Trainbearers have thinner, less deeply forked tails and different head coloring; sylphs show a more triangular, deeply cleft fork.
• Female/immature sylphs are harder to identify to species and are best distinguished by range and, if seen well, subtle throat spangling and tail shape.

Where & When to See It

Found in humid montane and cloud forest edges and adjacent shrubby clearings on the eastern slope of the Andes, roughly from Venezuela and Colombia south through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, typically between about 1,500 and 2,800 meters elevation. It is a year-round resident within this elevational band, though some local elevational movement can occur following flowering.

Voice

Gives high-pitched twittering and chattering notes typical of hummingbirds, along with soft chase calls during territorial disputes at flowering shrubs.