This bird lives in humid mountain forest in Colombia and Ecuador. Adults have a chestnut crown and a conspicuous white eye-ring extending behind the eye.
Adults have a black head and upperparts, a chestnut crown and nape, and a long white eye-ring extending behind the eye. The lower back and underparts are olive-toned.
It uses dense understory and forest edges in wet montane forest, foraging low, from the ground to about five metres. It is sometimes recorded in mixed-species flocks.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.