This scarce piculet is known only from a few locations in the humid lowlands of eastern Colombia, southern Venezuela, and northwestern Brazil. Its underparts are entirely barred, but upperparts are plain, lacking the barring shown by the otherwise very similar Lafresnaye’s Piculet. Inhabits light woodland and forest edge, and not found inside tall rainforest. Song is a high pitched “seep, seep, seep”, though sometimes only one or two notes are given. Call is a short, erratic trill.