It is recorded in dry bush country from Somalia through southern Ethiopia, southeastern Sudan, eastern Uganda, and Kenya to northeastern Tanzania. The field guide describes it as local and uncommon.
It has a gray head and underparts, rufous wings, a dark tail tipped white, a narrow black crown streak, and black streaks on both sides of the head.
Its call is described as a loud trill on a descending scale. The guide places it in arid bush country.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.