The Chestnut-collared Longspur is a grassland bird whose plumage changes by season. Breeding males show a chestnut nape and black belly, and the birds forage on the ground for insects and seeds.
In breeding plumage, the male has a pale throat, chestnut nape, and black belly. Winter plumage is grayer.
It breeds in shortgrass and mixed-grass prairie in the northern Great Plains, then moves south for winter. On the ground it eats insects such as grasshoppers and grass seeds.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.