This hummingbird has geographically separated subspecies; this entry focuses on zonura from northern Peru.
Adults are dull brownish green above with rusty uppertail coverts, a black eye mask with a pale stripe above it, a whitish throat, tawny underparts, and a long slightly decurved bill.
The zonura subspecies is reported from deciduous forest and scrub on the western slopes of the northern Andean foothills.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.