This finch occurs in a restricted area of the western Peruvian Andes. Adult males have a slate-grey back and tail, black face, and rufous forehead, eyebrow, and breast. A 1994 field visit recorded small groups feeding in low branches and on vegetated ground.
Adult males have a slate-grey back and tail, black face, and rufous forehead, eyebrow, and breast, with a pale belly centre. Females and young birds can be duller and streaked below.
During 1994 visits to Bosque Zárate, groups of about four to six were recorded at 2,750–2,950 m, feeding in low branches and on dense ground vegetation.
It is associated with dry cloud forest, mixed woodland, and bushy edges on western Andean slopes; detailed ecology remains poorly known.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.