This cinclodes occurs in the high Andes. It has a brown back, pale eyebrow, spotted breast and pale wing stripe, and walks on the ground to forage in grassland and by water.
The upperparts are brown, with a pale eyebrow, whitish throat, brown-flecked breast and pale wing stripe. The outer tail feathers have pale tips.
It uses short grass and sparse scrub and walks on the ground to forage. In northwestern Argentina it is recorded along rivers and lakes in Jujuy and northwestern Salta at 3,500–4,500 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.