The Rufous Nightjar is a nocturnal bird with rufous plumage.
It has rufous plumage and a pale collar; white outer tail feathers are visible in flying males.
It is strictly nocturnal and uses wooded habitats, including forest edges with thick understory.
Egg-containing nests found in Argentina held two eggs directly on the ground. The eggs were whitish to pinkish cream, with gray and brown markings.
In the Argentine observations, females covered eggs and chicks during the day. A male was also observed incubating at dusk in Chaco.
Newly hatched chicks found in Argentina had half-open eyes and dense cinnamon down, browner on the back and neck and yellowish on the head.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.