The adult male has a shining purple crown and green upperparts; the female lacks those colors.
The adult male has a bright violet crown and a violet patch behind its black mask. Its upperparts are metallic green and its underside is white. The female lacks the violet and bright green and has a longer tail.
During the first feather change, 0–6 inner feathers covering the wing were replaced (mean 0.62). Young birds have dull, brownish-green feathers covering their wings; adult feathers are shiny emerald. Tail shape and pattern also differ by sex. Adult males have short, broad tails with three white outer feathers and two black inner feathers. Females have longer, narrower tails: the outer three white feathers show a black bar, and the inner two are black.
Young males had tails intermediate in length between females and adult males, with the adult male pattern. Brown young feathers can remain on the head before the full male pattern appears. Fine lines across the beak were gone by the second feather change. Adults molted from May to July; young birds molted from August to November.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.