This bird is recorded in the Sierra Madre of northeastern Luzon, Philippines. The 2013 original paper lists forest records in Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, and Nueva Vizcaya.
The adult female type specimen had an amber crown and nape, a white throat, a necklace of black spots, a gray breast, and chestnut-brown back and wings.
The one female type specimen was collected in secondary lowland forest at 525 m; its stomach contained insect parts.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.