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
Tawny piculet with white. In other regards, the sexes are similar; the cheeks and neck are tawny and the ear coverts brown. There is a slight white moustachial stripe and white streaking above and behind the eye. The throat is cream, and the breast and belly are yellowish-brown, sometimes with white streaking on the breast. The wings are brown and the upper tail blackish, except for the central feathers which are white. The beak and legs are grey and the iris rufous, with a greyish ring of bare skin round the eye. The tawny piculet is endemic to the Amazon rainforest of