This bird shows a mixture of feartures from both species. The bill is red with a black tip as in Rufous-tailed but not as sharply as that species, more merging from red to black. The throat is mottled with green (pure white in Andean Emerald and solid green in Rufous-tailed). The belly is white as in Andean Emerald, not dusky as in Rufous-tailed. The tail is mostly rufous as in Rufous-tailed but Andean Emerald has also got a brownish tail.