This night-active nightjar has fine brown, gray, and buff markings. It hides on the forest floor by day and catches flying insects at dusk.
Its plumage is finely mottled with brown, gray, and buff tones, making it difficult to spot on the forest floor.
It occurs in Arizona pine-oak woodland and wooded canyons. By day it rests motionless among leaf litter, then catches flying insects at dusk.
It lays two nearly white eggs directly on ground litter without building a nest. Incubation lasts 19–21 days. A rock or vegetation may shade the eggs from afternoon sun.
It has a large head, a small bill fringed with long bristles, and a thin pale collar against the dark throat and breast. Adult males have bold white outer tail tips; females have smaller buff tips.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.