The females are very different being pale sandy brown on the upperparts with faint streaking on the crown and whitish patches around the eye and on the sides of the neck.

The female's underparts are whitish with a pale cinnamon breast band and black underwing coverts, The juveniles are similar to the fameals but the feathers on the head are tipped with buff.

[4] The male's song is quite variable, typically consisting of a short series of simple, sweet notes, either sung in the flight display or from a low vantage point in a bush or on a rock.

[5] In the heat of midday, these birds reduce water loss by staying in the shade, and it has even been recorded sheltering within the burrows of large lizards.

[5] The male black-crowned sparrow-lark performs aerial displays over the breeding territory, in which he climbs steeply up from the ground prior to circling and calling, before falling in a series of shallow dives.

The species has a broad range and a large, increasing population, leading to its classification as "Least Concern" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).