The Story
I photographed this Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) at La Florida, El Bosque de las Aves, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. Males build the nest, a bulky dome of moss and plant fibers with a side entrance. Males carry outer tail feathers about 12 centimeters long, while females have a short, somewhat forked tail. It feeds on nectar by trap-lining or defending territories, and it sometimes steals nectar by piercing the base of a flower. Andean populations move seasonally between lower and higher elevations. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400, −1 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18 is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii) belongs to the family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List