The Yellow-necked Spurfowl lives in eastern African scrub and bushed grassland, often near water. Males have sharp spurs behind the legs and forage on foot along the ground.
Males have one or more sharp spurs behind the legs, which are used in fighting.
Yellow-necked Spurfowl use dry grass-and-shrub habitats and eat insects, seeds and other plant material. Their diet includes food below ground as well as leaves and seeds above it, including the swollen underground parts of sedges.
A study published in 1977 examined Yellow-necked Spurfowl, Crested Francolins and Helmeted Guineafowl over twenty-two months in Kenya’s Selengei area. Cyperus sedge bulblets were the major plant item for all three birds, documenting a shared resource among differently sized species.
Other foods included grass florets and fruits, leaves and insects. Insect and grass-floret use increased after rain. Crested Francolins and guineafowl overlapped little in other foods, but each shared some plant foods with Yellow-necked Spurfowl. Underground resources and rain-linked foods connected these birds within one landscape.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Selengei study documents underground plant resources as food for Yellow-necked Spurfowl and other birds. Understanding habitat includes the plants supplying these foods and seasonal changes in insect and plant use following rain.