Cyanolyca pulchra is rare and local, occurring along a narrow elevational band of extremely wet foothill and premontane forest on the Pacific slope of west Colombia (north to extreme south Chocó) and north-west Ecuador (south to Pichincha). At Río Ñambi, Colombia, its population is estimated at just 2-3 pairs in 5 km². In Ecuador, it appears to have declined for unknown reasons since the 1970s³.