This nightjar lives on Flores, Sumba, and other Lesser Sunda islands. Its plumage differs little from close relatives; the distinct territorial song was an important clue in recognizing it as a separate species.
Its plumage and structure closely resemble those of related large-tailed nightjars.
It uses open to dense scrub with scattered small trees and edges of open forest. It sings from perches at dusk and dawn and catches insects in flight.
Its territorial song is a high, explosive piok-piok or weelp-weelp, often given in pairs separated by a pause.
The stomach of an adult male collected at Nisar, Flores, in 1975 contained a mass of tiny insects and an intact cricket.
In observations on Flores and Sumba, birds sang from exposed perches about 5–10 m above ground and made feeding sallies from the same song perches.
The adult male collected on Flores had a white lower-throat patch, a bold dark-brown median crown stripe and fine grayish-white and dark-brown patterning on the back.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.