The Madagascan Nightjar is a nocturnal bird found on Madagascar and Aldabra in the Seychelles. It catches insects on the wing at night and rests on leaf litter by day.
Its grey-brown plumage has dark streaks, buff spots and fine barring below. Males have white wing and outer-tail markings. Females have smaller buff wing spots and less extensive white tips to the outer tail feathers.
It catches insects on the wing at night. When resting it lies on leaf litter; while foraging it may fly above the canopy or low over the ground and water.
Around Sambava, three clutches found on 1–4 September each contained two eggs. They lay beneath bushes in open grassy or regenerating vegetation, and bore dark-brown markings.
At Périnet, a clutch of two eggs was recorded on 1 December in open bush country at the edge of a swamp.
August observations in central Antananarivo recorded calling from a rooftop at night; in Sambava a bird also called from the top of a roughly ten-metre aerial mast in town.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.