[3] Measuring 18 to 19 cm (7–7.5 in) in length, the adult male has a black face, wings, mantle, belly and tail, and is a bright red elsewhere in its plumage.

[6] The masked crimson tanager makes a high-pitched single note variously transcribed as tchlink or "tink", and a simple melody often sung at dawn.

However, there is no observable evidence to support the hypothesis that the masked crimson tanager are among the rare and unexplained phenomenon of reverse sexual dominance.

The masked crimson tanager prefer to inhabit sites close to or around oxbow lakes, a common geographical feature of their native Amazon biome.

For the masked crimson tanager, as well as other lake-margin bird species, cooperative breeding may be favored due to high population density and scarcity of habitable space.

The degree to which the masked crimson tanager forms mixed flocks correlates with the relative extent to which broad-leafed canopy make up the composition of the neotropical forest.

Their insectivorous tendency is driven by the periodic cycle of the breeding of termites, which produce winged males and females when sexually active.