Ranging through the east of Africa from Darfur in Sudan to Tanzania, it is found in dry savanna, papyrus swamps, and near human habitation.

Adults and juveniles both feed mostly on grass seeds, and fly in flocks, often with other species of birds, to find food.

[3] No subspecies are recognised, but one was described by British ornithologist George L. G. Van Someren in 1922 from Archers Post in central Kenya, as Sorella eminibey guasso.

[4][5] Hartlaub considered the chestnut sparrow's colouration and morphology to be distinct enough to allocate it to its own monotypic genus, Sorella.

The courtship display of the Dead Sea sparrow was thought to have evolved separately in a similar environment from that of these species, in an example of convergent evolution.

The breeding male is not easily confused with any other birds except the chestnut weaver, which is substantially larger and has white on its wings.

The non-breeding male's bill fades to a dusky-tipped horn, similar to that of females, but without dusky tones on the cutting edge of the mandible (lower portion of beak).

[14] The female has a grey head; buff supercilium, chin, and throat; black and warm brown upperparts; and off-white underparts.

[10][16] The chestnut sparrow is found in East Africa in mostly lower country from Darfur through Kordofan, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya to north-central Tanzania.

[17] Its population has not been quantified, but it appears to be common across a very large range and it is assessed by the IUCN Red List as Least Concern for global extinction.

[19] In 1967, the ornithologist Robert B. Payne studied chestnut sparrows in a grey-capped social weaver colony in an acacia grove near Lake Magadi in southern Kenya, and in 1969 he reported his findings in the ornithological journal The Ibis.

Once the breeding season began, "the first impression was of the sparrows nesting and the grey-capped social weavers unobtrusively skulking nearby".

[18] Males displayed around the new weaver nests, crouching, raising and quivering their wings in a shallow V, and giving a high, twittering trill.

Females would fly to displaying males and solicit copulation in typical sparrow fashion, crouching, quivering, and drooping their wings.

During Payne's study period, "Chases and fights between the two species were seen nearly every minute of observation", and the male sparrows spent about a fifth of their day annoying the social-weavers.