Adults have all black plumage with contrasting bright blue facial skin around a red eye.

Juveniles are similar but less glossy and their underparts browner and their facial skin is blackish or dark brown.

[4] The black guan is found from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica to western Coclé Province in Panama.

Its primary diet is fruits; studies in Costa Rica have identified at least 35 different species eaten.

The one described nest was a small platform of twigs and leaves placed in a clump of epiphytes in a tree 4.5 m (15 ft) above the ground.