The male is a thrush with a black head, gray back and breast, and chestnut belly. It forages on the ground near edges of Andean montane forest.
The male has a black head, gray upperparts and breast, a chestnut belly, and yellow-orange bill and orbital skin. Females are duller; juveniles have spotted underparts.
It forages mainly on the ground near montane-forest edges. The Peru account describes it as uncommon to rare at about 1,800–2,350 m on the eastern Andean slope.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.