It is found in the highlands of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, southern Mexico, and Nicaragua.

The plumage of the male is black, the upper parts glossed with green or blue, the underparts rather duller.

The beak, the bare skin on the throat, the large wattle, the legs and feet are reddish-orange.

The female, by contrast, is black, heavily mottled and barred with reddish-brown and cinnamon, with a red beak and bare skin round the beak, and purplish bare skin round the eye.

In Mexico it is uncommon, but it is present in moderate numbers in the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve.