Has a long, curved bill, a gray head, yellow underparts and rump, an olive back and wings, and a white-tipped tail.

Male has a narrow pale yellow throat stripe from the bill to the chest bordered with dark gray, a greenish-blue tail, and an orange patch in front of the shoulder.

Voice similar to Apo Sunbird’s, including a rapid pulsing series of “chip!” notes and a high-pitched upslurred “chuuuuuit!”” [1] This species was first collected in 1964 by Dioscoro S. Rabor but it was only in 1997 that it was recognized as a distinct subspecies.

It can be found in mountainous areas in the southern parts of the island on Mount Matutum and Mount Busa in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani[6] Its natural habitat is in montane rainforest above 800 meters above sea leve which is significantly lower than the boltoni and malindangensis Apo sunbirds which are found above 1,500 meters above sea level.

However, there it is still affected by habitat loss through deforestation, mining, land conversion and slash-and-burn - just not to the same extent as lowland forest.