The Chestnut-crested Puffbird is endemic to Brazil. Its dark brown streaks and white crescent-shaped breast band stand out, and it searches in forest for insects and small animals.
It is about 20 cm long. The head and upperparts are dark brown with ochre streaks; it has a white throat, a black band below it, and a white crescent with an ochre area on the breast.
It eats insects, small arthropods, and frogs, and may search for food on the ground. It also follows army ants and joins mixed-species bird flocks.
In Minas Gerais, Brazil, two nests were found in cavities 53–55 cm deep in roadside banks, about 1.8–1.9 m above the ground.
One nest found in Minas Gerais in November 1995 contained four eggs, and four newly hatched chicks were later recorded in the same nest.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.