It is found from Mexico throughout Central America to northern Panama and occasionally in the United States; four subspecies are recognized.

[2] The flame-colored tanager is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long, the male having predominantly red-orange while the female is more yellowish orange.

[3] French ornithologist Frédéric de Lafresnaye described Piranga sanguinolenta as a separate species in 1839, though the two were generally regarded as conspecific by the end of the 19th century.

The female has a similar pattern but its head and underparts are yellow and the back is olive with black streaks.

Those found in the United States are pre- and post-breeding wanderers and rarely nesters,[9] with several sightings and one specimen collected in Texas.

[10] Bird watchers view and recorded a flame colored tanager in south east Wisconsin April 2023.USA Today Network-WIS.

Though it usually hunts through the tops of trees, it also sallies out for flying insects and sometimes descends to near the ground to glean fruit.

[11] The predatory status of this bird has been documented to prey on certain types of arthropods found within the Sonoran canopy as it dives to catch insects and often those being carried by army ants.