Plumage pattern is similar for both sexes and distinctive among game birds of North Americ A. chukar s are gray-brown above with a buff belly. A dark black line across the forehead, eyes, and down the neck contrasts the white throat from the gray head and breast. Flanks are prominently barred black and white-chestnut and the outer tail feathers are chestnut. Bill, margins of eyelids, legs and feet are corral pink to deep red or crimson. Both sexes can have a small tarsal spur, but usually this is characteristic of males.
Juveniles are smaller and are mottled brown and gray, with only slight brown barring on flanks.
On western rangelands, primary foods are seeds and foliage of introduced grasses and various forbs in the sagebrush community. Cultivated grains are used when available, but chukar habitat in North America is generally not near agricultural land. In Hawaii, different foods are available, but native shrub fruits and introduced herbaceous plants are still important. Young chicks primarily eat insects. Adults do not eat a significant number of insects, but are known to take locusts when available.