Orange chats are strongly nomadic within the arid and semi-arid zones of Australia that they inhabit. They are found mainly in the interior with some sightings in the northern tropics, and very occasionally they reach the coastal areas of South and Western Australia."Orange Chat(Epthianura aurifrons)." 2013. The Internet Bird Collection. 23 Oct 2013 . The orange chat mostly occurs in dry, low-lying, saline environments that are rarely flooded such as sparsely vegetated gibber plains, salt pans, salt lakes, or claypans. They mainly inhabit low, treeless chenopod shrublands dominated by saltbush, bluebush or samphire, with either open or continuous shrub cover.Morcombe, Michael (2003). Field Guide to Australian Birds, p. 273,397. Pascal Press, Glebe. . They are sometimes recorded in other open or shrubby habitats, often near wetlands: low mulga, low buloke woodland; open acacia scrubland; dongas (steep-sided gullies) vegetated with tall shrubs or small trees including mulga, dead finish, belah or sugarwood; grassland; or sedgeland. The orange chat has occasionally been recorded in mallee woodlands and on farmlands, including areas over-run by scotch thistle.
