This small bird eats seeds and lives in wetlands and damp grasslands with many seed-bearing plants. Outside breeding activity it may join mixed flocks with other Sporophila.
The account describes an immature male as having a brown mantle and a whitish throat. This trait is stated for an immature male.
It feeds on seeds in open places such as marshes and damp grasslands. It can join mixed flocks of other Sporophila, and some northern records may be winter migrants.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.