It has a waxy, dark, blue-grey plumage on its upperparts and has a long tail with graduated white-tipped feathers.

The bill is apple green, and a naked patch of blue skin surrounds the eye.

There is a large blue patch around the eye, with a white fringed red iris, and the bill is apple green.

They nest within a thorny bush, building a thick platform of twigs lined with green leaves and lay a clutch of two, rarely three, chalky white eggs.

A study of the aortic arches of birds found that this species has a peculiar modification in the two dorsal carotids are reduced to paired ligaments "ligamenti ottleyi" which enter the hypapophysial canal.

The blue-faced malkoha is found in peninsular India south of Baroda (the Surat Dangs[16]) and Cuttack in a range of habitats from semi-evergreen, dry deciduous and open scrub forest.