The Large-tailed Nightjar is a nocturnal bird with mottled camouflage. It rests motionless on the ground or along a branch by day and catches flying insects at dusk.
Its brown, mottled plumage helps it blend into the ground or a branch while it rests by day.
It stays still on the ground or along a branch through the day, then flies at dusk to catch moths and beetles in the air.
At Sungei Buloh in Singapore, breeding has been observed from March to June. It builds no nest and lays one or two creamy-white eggs mottled with brown directly on the ground.
At Sungei Buloh both parents share incubation for 16–18 days: the female incubates during the day and the male from dusk until dawn.
At Sungei Buloh chicks hatch with down and have fully open eyes by their second or third day. When disturbed near the young, an adult flaps on the ground in a broken-wing distraction display.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.