This large cuckoo has a greenish-brown back and a black crest, and forages on the ground. Its Amazonian lowland range is described as two subspecies in the source account.
It is greenish brown above and light brown below, with a long broad tail and a black crest that it raises and flattens. The bill base and skin around the eye are red.
It forages on the ground. PeruAves notes that its range approaches that of the Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo in central Peru, but that they do not appear to occur together there.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.