The Rufous-breasted Sabrewing was recorded in the Roraima Mountains. Its nineteenth-century description was based on one adult male and notes dark rufous underparts, greenish upperparts, and feeding among flowering shrubs.
The description of one adult male gives bronzy green upperparts and dark rust-red underparts. The central tail feathers are golden-bronze, while the outer feathers are uniformly rufous.
The specimen was collected in the Roraima Mountains at about 1,830 m, where it was reported feeding among flowering Mimosa and other plants.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.