A highland francolin of Ethiopia and Somalia, it has a red bill and legs, while neck and facial markings vary by subspecies.
Adult birds of the nominate subspecies show a chestnut nape, dark facial markings, and red bill and legs. Other subspecies differ; atrifrons is described as less marked.
Chestnut-naped Spurfowl forage on the ground in the Ethiopian highlands. In the Bale Mountains they use shrubby habitat, where low vegetation forms part of the mountain landscape alongside taller trees.
A 2017 paper reported bird surveys in 2009 and 2012 across six northern Bale forest patches: three protected and three with greater human use, including grazing and logging. Chestnut-naped Spurfowl occurred in both, with repeated survey totals of 141 in protected and 106 in unprotected forest.
The more heavily used forests had fewer trees and more shrubs. The authors found that overall bird richness and abundance responded differently from forest-specialist birds. Mapping the occurrence of species, including this spurfowl, revealed details of montane bird communities alongside human land use.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The Bale study identifies conservation value in unprotected forest while emphasising intact forest for specialist birds. Recognising both protected and used forest patches in which Chestnut-naped Spurfowl occurred provides a basis for understanding its local habitat.