Males stand out for their copper-red throat. The species feeds on flower nectar in coastal mangroves, and an observation also recorded it eating an arthropod.
Males have a longish tail, iridescent green crown, and copper-red throat, with purple flanks. Females have brown upperparts, a gray head, white throat, and yellow underparts.
It mainly uses the upper and middle levels of mangroves and feeds on nectar. One Singapore observation recorded a male extracting a probable spider from folded leaves and eating it on a lower branch.
In June 2015 at Sungei Buloh, Singapore, a male rubbed small animal prey extracted from folded leaves against a branch with its bill, then moved to lower branches to eat it.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.