A large woodcreeper of humid forests from southern Mexico through Central America to northwestern South America. It favors forest interiors but also occurs at edges and in mature secondary growth.
It is slim, with a long tail and a medium-length straight bill. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a cinnamon-brown, finely barred face, olive-brown upperparts, and narrow black bars below.
It often follows army-ant swarms, taking arthropods flushed by the ants. It clings to a trunk and makes short flights to prey on the ground, trunks, vines, and foliage.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.