This flowerpiercer inhabits the high Andes from Venezuela to Peru and has a distinctive upturned, hooked bill.
It is entirely black through most of its range and has a distinctively upturned bill with a hooked tip. Birds in the eastern Colombian Andes have a smaller, dull gray shoulder patch.
It is associated with dry, scrubby high-elevation habitats and forages at low to middle levels, alone or in pairs.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.