[1] The Ecuadorian seedeater was formally described in 1888 by the English ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe based on specimens collected in Ecuador.

[9] The male Ecuadorian seedeater is mostly a pale slate blue; its crown is a lighter indigo.

[10] The Ecuadorian seedeater is found on the west slope of the Andes from southwestern Colombia's Nariño Department through western and central Ecuador into northern Peru, perhaps as far south as the Department of Piura.

It inhabits openings in and edges of humid montane and secondary forest and is closely associated with bamboo.

[10] The Ecuadorian seedeater's diet includes insects, seeds, and bamboo shoots.