Male Silver-beaked Tanagers are stunningly colored birds with velvety blackish-crimson heads and underparts, darker blackish-crimson upperparts and a bill that is black above and shining silvery white below.  Females are a dull dark reddish brown with a brighter red rump.  In poor light, these tanagers appear all dark with a white bill. Silver-beaked Tanagers travel in noisy bands of 4 to 10 individuals in the undergrowth along forest borders.  As Silver-beaked Tanagers forage for fruit and insects, they hop rapidly and heavily through foliage often nervously flicking their tales and wings.