The Story
This Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus kingii), of the subspecies emmae, was at the Recinto del Pensamiento in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia when I photographed it. The Long-tailed Sylph catches insects by flying out from a perch. The male builds the nest, a bulky dome of moss and plant fibers with a side entrance. It lives between about 900 and 3,000 meters and has a complex pattern of movements. The Recinto del Pensamiento is a 179-hectare nature reserve of Andean cloud forest above 2,000 meters, at Km 11 on the road from Manizales to the Magdalena. IUCN lists the Long-tailed Sylph as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 100. The reserve belongs to the Comité Departamental de Cafeteros de Caldas and is run by the Corporación para el Desarrollo de Caldas to promote nature tourism in Manizales.
©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