The adult is uniformly dull olive-brown with faint white streaks on the throat.

The juvenile resembles the adult, but has buff or orange streaks on the head and upperparts, and dark spotting on the underparts.

There are three poorly defined subspecies: This is a bird of tall mountain forests and adjacent more open areas and woodland edge which breeds in highlands from southern Mexico to western Panama.

It forages on large branches or on the ground, in flocks when not breeding, progressing in hops and dashes with frequent stops.

It builds a grass or rootlet-lined large cup nest, concealed amongst epiphytes, 3–12 m (9.8–39.4 ft) above the ground on a tree branch.