It has a rufous facial disc with black edges on the sides, white brows over dark brown eyes, and short "ear" tufts.

[6] The cloud-forest screech owl was originally thought to be confined to south and central Peru, in the Departments of Pasco, Cuzco, and Puno.

It inhabits cloud forest, a humid, mossy landscape with epiphytes, ferns, and a dense understory.

It appears to breed between late June and August and is assumed to nest in tree cavities like others of its genus.

The cloud-forest screech owl's song is "a continuous series of monotonic hoots" whose intensity increases and then ends abruptly.