The current "orange-eyed" and "orange-breasted" English names were adopted to avoid confusion with the former "red-eyed".

[5] To further complicate matters, for a time in the early twentieth century some authors placed the former two-subspecies red-eyed thornbird alone in the genus Drioctistes.

Their wings are mostly warm brown that is brighter at the base of the flight feathers and duller at their ends.

Their throat and breast are orange-rufous, their belly whitish, and their flanks and undertail coverts warm brown with some rufous.

[7][8][9] The orange-breasted thornbird is found in southeastern Brazil from Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo south to Rio Grande do Sul.

[7] It was discovered in Uruguay in 2001, including signs of breeding (a nest), in Rivera Department near the Brazilian border,[10] and has been found regularly in other sites ever since.

It typically forages singly or in pairs, gleaning prey from vegetation in the forest's thick undergrowth.

It builds a nest that differs from those of other thornbirds; it weaves leaves and stems of grasses into a tight structure about 40 cm (1 ft) wide and high with a tube entrance.