It is a dark grey passerine with a notable chestnut crown on the upper nape and pale cinnamon-colored undertail coverts.

Males have modified primary feathers with elongated and stiff barbules that enable them to create a whirring noise with their wings, which the piha likely uses for display purposes.

The chestnut-capped piha was not discovered until 1999, due in large part to the very limited and to political instability in central Colombia.

It is primarily threatened by habitat destruction as its cloud forests are converted into usage for farming, mining, and agriculture.

[2][3] On March 31, 1999, during survey work to compile an inventory of the avifauna of the La Forsoza region, the first known chestnut-capped piha was captured, photographed, and released by ornithologists Andrés M. Cuervo, José M. Ochoa, Sandra Galeano, and Juan Carlos Luna.

[4] In August 1999 a rapid survey across a wide swathe of the region encountered the unknown piha on numerous occasions, and in some areas it was one of the more common species present.

[6] The specific name weberi is in honor of Walter H. Weber, a Colombian ornithologist from Medellín known for promoting conservation and the study of birds in Antioquia.

[8] Overall the chestnut-capped piha is a dark grey bird with a notable chestnut crown on the upper nape and pale cinnamon-colored undertail coverts.

[3] In addition to its namesake chestnut crown, the bird's head is marked by a dark brown iris and a narrow orbital ring that is a bright yellow.

[3] Juveniles have a far less obvious chestnut crown than the adults, but have brighter and broader rufous fringes on their secondaries and tertials.

[3] It is only found on the northern slope of the Cordillera Central mountains near the towns of Amalfi and Anorí in the department of Antioquia.

[10] The cloud forest is dominated by trees in the genera Guarea, Pouteria, Protium, Roucheria, Vochysia, Virola, and Clusia.

[4] The fruits eaten by this piha are small to medium-sized and come from a variety of plant families, including Myrsinaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Linaceae, Lauraceae, Aquifoliaceae, and Melastomataceae.

[4] It is assumed to have similar behavior to the closely related dusky piha, and likely forms leks where males use their modified primary feathers to produce a whirring noise with their wings.

[4] In March 2000, a survey found the species was mostly paired off and frequently vocalizing, suggesting that the breeding season was about to begin.

[5][10] Some portions of the piha's range are protected, including the 4.5 km2 (1,100 acres) Reserva Natural La Forzosa where the bird was first discovered; this site had actually been declared a reserve by a local landowner prior to the species' discovery.

[12] Further efforts to conserve portions of the chestnut-capped piha's range and limit its conversion to agricultural usage, particularly in the Riachón River valley, as well as additional surveys to clarify its current distribution, population, and any genetic variation between the Amalfi and Anorí populations, are needed to further protect the species.