Long-tailed Sylph

Birding abroad: Long-tailed Sylph.

I photographed the Long-tailed Sylph in one of the lodges in Mindo, Ecuador. The Lodges in Mindo are so focused on the birds that you actually feel like one with nature. Hummingbirds there are quite territorial and also aggressive. They aren't shy when humans are nearby, which made it sometimes quite special.

The Long-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus Kingi) is one unique hummingbird. First of all, it is not a small hummingbird. With an average size of 18 cm, for sure you can't miss it. What makes it also impressive is that his tail alone measures 11 cm. 
Even though it is one large hummingbird, his beak on the other hand is only 1.3 cm.

I spotted the Long-tailed Sylph resting on a stick in the garden in one of Mindo's Lodges. In the pictures above you can clearly see its long tail, which is a forked one, but seen here closed. When he turned towards me, I was captured by his amazing color on top of his head. It had this stunning emerald color. This also verifies again why hummingbirds are the electrifying gems of the Amazon.

The Long-tailed Sylph is a resident of cloudforests in Venezuela, Columbia and Ecuador.

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