It is found in the open fields and grasslands of tropical Asia and is popular as a cage bird due to the colourful plumage of the males in their breeding season.

[2][3] The red avadavat was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Frigilla amandava.

[12][13][14] Three subspecies are recognised:[9] This small finch is easily identified by the rounded black tail and the bill that is seasonally red.

[23][24][25] This finch is usually seen in small flocks,[26] flying with rapid wingbeats and descending into grass clumps where they are hard to observe.

[35][36] Though the current conservation status of Red avadavat is Least Concern (LC), it has become increasingly uncommon in at least part of Southeast Asia.

[37] In Cambodia, Red avadavats were already "exported by the thousands" to Vietnam in the 1920s, described as "uncommon and irregular" in the early 1960s, and populations are now considered to be low and of concern, yet significant numbers were still found in the merit release trade in 2012.