The center of its crown is black, and it has yellow spectacles and underparts. It lives in humid montane forest on the eastern Andes, from south and east of the Marañón in northern Peru to central Bolivia.
The centre of the crown is black and the back bluish grey. The throat, belly, area in front of the eyes and eye-rings are bright yellow.
From April to September 1997, it was recorded in nine mixed-species flocks in cloud forest at Mina Copacabana, Cotapata, Bolivia. There it foraged in the canopy and was one of the birds helping maintain flock cohesion.
At the same Cotapata study site, it was also recorded taking food in the air within the canopy.
In the Cotapata cloud forest, it also foraged in mosses and other bryophytes.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.