The Olivaceous Piculet is a small piculet. The Peru account describes the subspecies there as yellow-olive, with yellow on the male's forehead.
The Peru subspecies P. o. harterti is yellow-olive, and the male has golden-yellow on the forehead. The female lacks that yellow forehead patch.
In northwestern Peru it is recorded in humid Tumbesian semi-deciduous forest and is uncommon in that local account.
In the Peru subspecies, both males and females have black heads with white spots.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.