The Red-hooded Tanager contrasts a red head and breast with a yellow body in the Andes. Females have less red than males, and the birds forage in pairs or small groups.
In males, deep red extends from the head down the upper mantle to the center of the breast. The back and scapulars are yellowish olive, the rump and underparts are bright yellow, and the wings are dark with yellow edges. Females are duller and have a more restricted red head.
It lives in moist montane forest, especially mossy, epiphyte-laden forest and its edges. Birds forage in pairs or small flocks of about three to six, sometimes in mixed-species flocks. It is apparently resident, but breeding records are sparse.
The bill is blackish.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.