Their wings are gray-brown with a wide black-edged rufous band at the base of the flight feathers.

Their tail is dark gray except the outer pair of feathers, which are blackish with pale rufous tips.

Their throat and breast are white with dark scallops, their flanks light brown, and their belly and undertail coverts pale buff-white.

[8] The Cordoba cinclodes has been documented feeding on a variety of insects, other small invertebrates like snails and molluscs, and seeds.

It nests in a chamber at the end of a tunnel that it excavates in an earth bank or also in a rock crevice.

It has a restricted range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing, but none of these meet the criteria for uplisting to Near Threatened.

[1] It is considered common within that limited range and its habitat "is relatively free from human disturbances other than grazing".