This finch is endemic to Peru and lives in dry scrub on the western Andes. A 2016-2017 study also recorded it at lower elevations in a coastal hill reserve in La Libertad.
It is about 16.5 cm long, with a rufous back, grey head, grey tail with white outer feathers, orange bill and legs, a black chin, and brown-grey underparts.
At Lomas del Cerro Campana in La Libertad, a survey from April 2016 to September 2017 used 90 points and recorded 51 birds. The reported density was 0.722 birds per hectare; this is a result for that reserve and survey.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.