It is found from southeastern Mexico through Central America (except El Salvador), Colombia, and Ecuador into Peru.

Both sexes have bristles around the base of the large bill, and white "whiskers", which are actually tufts of feathers.

The adult female has less of a chesnut cast; its crown is grayer and its upperparts olive to brown.

The subspecies are all similar to the nominate, differing mainly in the shades of gray, brown, and rufous and in the density of the streaking.

It has also been recorded following army ant swarms and joining mixed-species foraging flocks.

The white-whiskered puffbird's song is "a high-pitched descending trill ... usually with an emphasized note at the end, e.g., tssiirrrrr-tsít."

A frequently heard call is "a high, thin, slightly reedy, drawn-out tsssiiiw or tssssiiir, fading away".