Their crown and back are pale sandy buff and their rump and uppertail coverts are creamy white.

Their iris is brown, their fairly long decurved bill is blackish with a yellowish horn base to the mandible, and their legs and feet are blue-gray.

It inhabits the high Andes, where it favors puna grasslands on generally barren slopes with rocky outcroppings.

[3] The creamy-rumped miner is generally resident but some individuals move to lower elevations after breeding.

[3] The creamy-rumped miner is assumed to nest during the austral summer; young have been observed in February and March.

The creamy-rumped miner's song is a "loud, strident trill of 3–12 notes" that is given in display flight or from a rock perch.