(BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World retains the "white-tailed" name for the present species.)

Their central tail feathers are bronzy and the others white with dusky gray outer edges.

[6] The green-backed hillstar is found on the east slope of the Andes from southern Colombia through eastern Ecuador and disjunctly in northeastern Peru.

[6] The green-backed hillstar usually forages in the lower and middle strata of the forest but occasionally in the canopy.

What is thought to be the green-backed hillstar's song is "a continuous series of single 'tseee', 'tsing' or 'seeuw' notes".

[6] The IUCN has assessed the green-backed hillstar as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are unknown.