[2] Various authors have placed the stout-billed cinclodes in genera Upucerthia or Geositta but these treatments have not been adopted by major taxonomic systems.

[5] The stout-billed cinclodes has two subspecies, the nominate C. e. excelsior (Sclater, PL, 1860) and C. e. columbianus (Chapman, 1912).

Subspecies C. e. columbianus has slightly darker upperparts, paler underparts, and a more distinct rufous wingband than the nominate.

The nominate subspecies is found in the Andes from Nariño Department in extreme southwestern Colombia south through Ecuador as far as Azuay Province.

The species inhabits a variety of landscapes including rocky páramo grasslands, semi-humid to humid montane scrublands, and sometimes groves of Polylepis and more barren areas with scattered shubs.

[6] The stout-billed cinclodes mostly feeds in invertebrates but also includes seeds and small vertebrates like frogs in its diet.

It forages singly or in pairs, probing and digging for prey in moist soil, mud, and debris; it occasionally will glean from low vegetation.

The species nests at the end of tunnel it excavates in an earth bank (especially somewhat friable pumice soils) and makes a pad of vegetable matter there.