This small bird occurs on islands in the western Philippines. Males and females differ in color, and throat and breast colors also vary between island subspecies.
It is about 9 cm long. Males of subspecies plateni have dark greyish-blue upperparts, an orange-red crown, yellow rump and throat, and a red patch in the centre of the breast. A greyish-blue line separates the white malar stripe from the chin. Females have green to grey-green upperparts, a yellowish crown centre and rump, and a grey line between the pale malar stripe, chin, and throat. Juveniles resemble females but lack the malar stripe and are greyer below. In culionensis, males have an orange-yellow rump, throat, and belly; females are deep yellow below with an orange breast patch.
It forages at all forest levels, usually alone and sometimes in mixed-species flocks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.