Their face is mostly buff-brown with faint blackish bars and a white stripe behind the eye.

Their chin and throat feathers are white tinged with buff and with dark edges or tips.

Juveniles are duller and darker than adults and have a sooty crown and diffuse barring on the upper- and underparts.

[4][7] Subspecies P. d. jelskii is very similar to the nominate, but its breast feathers have wide black streaks on the shafts and fewer dark edges.

[4] Subspecies P. d. jelskii of the ocellated piculet is found in central Peru between the departments of Huánuco and Cuzco.

The nominate subspecies is found in western Bolivia and possibly into extreme northwestern Argentina.

[4][7] The ocellated piculet is generally sedentary but may move to lower elevations in winter.

The ocellated piculet's song is "a high-pitched, rapid, falling trill: tree'e'e'e'e'e'e".