A hummingbird of Peru's western Andes. Males have an iridescent blue-green throat patch that females lack.
Both sexes are mostly black or dusky gray, with shade varying among subspecies. The male has an iridescent blue-green gorget absent in the female. The tail is coppery and slightly notched in males.
It lives in dry scrub along the western Andean slope and is also recorded in inter-Andean valleys and on both sides of the Marañón Valley. The account gives an elevational range of 2,700–4,300 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.