The Great Eared Nightjar is a nocturnal bird of forests and forest edges in the Indo-Malay region. Its ear-like tufts and upright resting posture are distinctive.
It has long ear-like tufts. When perched it is often upright, and its brown plumage blends into trees and leaf litter.
It is active at night and catches insects in flight. It uses forests, forest edges, and open places with trees.
In northeastern Luzon on 2 April 2002, one chick lay among dead leaves on the floor of a forest fragment bordered by grassland.
It eats moths, beetles and termites, catching them in flight over forest clearings and nearby fields.
The Luzon chick had warm chestnut-brown down on the throat, breast and cheeks, and beige to yellow-brown down on the upperparts and nape. Its grayish bill had a black tip, and it remained motionless with its eyes almost closed.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.