The head is dark grey with a strong white eyestripe and a usually concealed orange to vermilion crown stripe.

Young birds have a paler eye mask, reduced crown stripe, and have chestnut fringes to the wing and tail feathers.

From such perches they will sally out for considerable distances to catch insects in flight, to which purpose they utilize a range of aerobatic maneuvers.

from gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba), which they seek out and also utilize in human-modified habitat such as secondary forest or urban parks and gardens—and will pick off prey from the ground and even enter shallow waters to feed on aquatic invertebrates, tadpoles and occasionally small fish.

They have been observed to forage peacefully alongside common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) in the undergrowth, maybe even cooperating with the monkeys in flushing prey from hiding.