The Red Tanager occurs in open woodland and forest edges across eastern and southern South America, with a northern population in southern Guyana and adjacent far northern Brazil. In Bolivia, lowland forms are recorded south of the Cochabamba basin and in the Santa Cruz lowlands.
The species is about 17 cm long. Adult males are orange-red. Females have olive-yellow upperparts and yellow underparts; their wings and tail are brown with yellowish feather edges. The upper mandible is black, the lower mandible horn-colored to yellowish, the legs grayish-brown, and the iris brown.
In Bolivia, the lowland form occurs in and at the edges of dry to semi-humid forest, woodland, and scrub, including villages and suburbs. Records extend along the eastern Andean slope south of the Cochabamba basin to Tarija and across the Santa Cruz lowlands. The Bolivian account describes partial austral migration, with winter and spring migrants joining resident birds. Argentina’s protected-area database lists records from 20 protected areas.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.