The adult male has a coppery bronze forecrown and lores, and the crown has an erect white crest.

A white band separates the throat from the cinnamon-rufous breast, belly, and undertail coverts.

Its face and forecrown are dusky bronze and the throat and chest white with bronzy green speckles.

[6] The white-crested coquette appears to be somewhat nomadic, spending time in areas with many blooming trees and then disappearing.

[6] The white-crested coquette feeds on nectar, which is mostly sought in the canopy but also at lower levels at forest edges and gardens.

Females build a cup nest of plant down and cobweb covered with lichen and suspended from a branch.