A male Silver-eared Mesia, a bird related to the Red-billed Leiothrix (fig.). It a black head, with a yellow patch on the forehead, silvery ear-coverts, a greyish-olive mantle and back, a whitish lower belly, and a reddish-orange rump and vent.

Its bill is yellow, the breast is deep yellow, and there is a reddish patch in the middle of the wings, which are otherwise greyish near the shoulders and yellow near the tips. This one is probably of the subspecies ricketti, as it has a darker, almost orange throat.