It is found in Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

[2] Those in El Salvador and northwestern Nicaragua have been proposed as a third subspecies, N. h. cryptoleucus, and those in northeastern Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta might be, too.

[5] The white-necked puffbird is about 25 cm (9.8 in) long and weighs 81 to 106 g (2.9 to 3.7 oz).It is mostly glossy black.

[5] The white-necked puffbird hunts from an open perch by diving on its prey and will investigate army ant swarms.

[5] The white-necked puffbird's breeding season varies geographically but generally is within the March to September window.

Both sexes excavate the nest cavity, usually in an arboreal termitarium or rotting tree.

Descriptions of the white-necked puffbird's song include "a long bubbling trill, at a constant pitch or rising slightly, then falling" and "an evenly pitched monotonous trill that lasts 3–5 seconds".