Plain-breasted piculet endemic to South America on the eastern side of the Andes where it lives in the western part of the Amazon basin. The species is present in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, Peru and western Brazil at altitudes of up to . It is found in open parts of humid lowland forests, flooded forests, riverside corridors, swamps, thickets and groves, and logged areas with secondary growth and wooded pastures. It often occurs in areas of young "Cecropia" and "Mimosa" trees. The plain-breasted piculet is usually seen by itself or in pairs, but it will occasionally joins small flocks of birds of
Varzea piculet with white speckles. The upper parts of the body are chocolate-brown, sometimes with an olive tinge, and occasionally slightly barred with black. The tail is deep brown apart from the central pair of feathers, which are whitish, and the two outer pairs of feathers which have a whitish bar near the tip. The underparts are some shade of brown with light barring and streaking in darker brown and white. The iris is brown, the beak is black and the legs and feet are bluish-grey. The juvenile is similar to the female but the underparts are more heavily barred. This piculet