Subspecies pilcomayensis, thamnophiloides, and tucumanus intergrade in northern Argentina and are sometimes considered a separate species.

[4][5][6] The specific epithet cirratus means "curly headed", cirrus being Latin for a ringlet or curl.

Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. c. cirratus have a black cap with a red patch on the forehead and white spots on the rest of it.

Their iris is dark chestnut-brown, the orbital ring blue-gray, the beak black with a pale base to the mandible, and the legs gray.

[5][8] Subspecies P. c. confusus has a darker face than the nominate with no white line behind the eye, brown upperparts, and a heavily barred throat.

[8][5] The white-barred piculet's northern subspecies breed between July and December and the southern ones between September and March.

Both sexes excavate a nest hole, usually in a slender tree branch; the height above ground varies but can be as low as 2 m (7 ft).

It has an extremely large range, and though its population size is not known and thought to be decreasing, neither have reached the thresholds for a more critical rating.

However, it is "locally threatened by continuing deterioration of remnant forest habitat" in areas of urban growth.