Both sexes of all subspecies have a short, straight, black bill and a small white spot behind the eye.

The adult male of the nominate subspecies has bronze-green upperparts and rufous-edged black outer tail feathers.

Its central tail feathers are green and the rest have rufous bases, a black band near the end, and buffy to white tips.

Subspecies S. f. torridus is found on the Cordillera de Talamanca of southern Costa Rica and on Volcán Barú in extreme western Panama.

S. f. simoni is found on Volcanes Poás and Barva (or Barba) in central Costa Rica.

[3] The species inhabits a variety of semi-open to open habitats on high mountain slopes.

In addition to nectar the species feeds on small arthropods taken on the wing or, for the female especially, by gleaning from foliage or picking from spider webs.

The male defends small territories that are independent of nectar resources though flowers are usually nearby, and makes dive displays directed at females.

The female makes a cup nest of plant down and spider web covered with moss and lichens.