Their throat and breast are mostly dull gray with a pinkish or purplish tinge; there is a faint white crescent between them.

[5][6][7] The drab-breasted bamboo tyrant is found from Bahia state in east-central Brazil south to northern Rio Grande do Sul and into eastern Paraguay and northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province.

It feeds mostly in thick undergrowth with short upward sallies from a perch to glean prey from vegetation.

[5] The drab-breasted bamboo tyrant's breeding season has not been defined but includes October in southern Brazil.

Its one known nest was a purse with a side entrance hanging from the end of a twig 1.8 m (6 ft) above the ground.

It was made mostly from green mosses and plant fibers with fungal rhizomorphs, rootlets, and bark strips included.

What may be either the song or a call of the drab-breasted bamboo tyrant is a "very high, upslurred, scratchy 'krrru', like a mini-rattle".