Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.
Eastern Honduras southern on Caribbean coast to Panama (sight record also in Veraguas, on Pacific slope of Panama), and from Colombia (northern base of western and central Andes east to middle Magdalena Valley) southern on Pacific coast to north-western Ecuador (Esmeraldas and Pichincha), also Gorgona I, in Colombia.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Tawny-crested Tanager (Tachyphonus delatrii) [XC262646]
by Olaf Jahn from Esmeraldas: Awacachi Biological Corridor, R\u00edo Bogot\u00e1 area, Ecuador (call, alarm and take-off call)
Tawny-crested Tanager (Tachyphonus delatrii) [XC262643]
by Olaf Jahn from Esmeraldas: Playa de Oro, village and vicinity, R\u00edo Santiago, Ecuador (call, calls)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Colour and size of coronal patch variable, but not in any seemingly systematic way, and naming of geographical subspecies unwarranted.