[2] The common name "nightjar", first recorded in 1630, refers to the nocturnal habits of the bird, the second part of the name deriving from the distinctive churring song.

During the day this nightjar lies silent upon the ground, concealed by its plumage; it is difficult to detect, looking like a bit of lichen-covered twig or a fragment of bark.

It flies at dusk, most often at sundown, with an easy, silent moth-like flight; its strong and deliberate wingbeats alternate with graceful sweeps and wheels with motionless wings.

[6] In 2006, Keith Vinicombe and Dominic Mitchell cast doubt on the British record, believing that the lack of detail around the circumstances of finding indicated that a mistake or fraud could not be ruled out.

[4][8] The British record is a first-autumn bird of the Iberian race ruficollis, and the Danish record also appears to be of this form; earlier suggestions that the British bird was of the North African race desertorum were erroneous – the specimen's paleness being due to fading whilst on public display at the Hancock Museum.

[4][9] There are also several nineteenth-century European records from outside the species' normal breeding range: from southeast France, Malta, the Canary Islands, Croatia, Israel and Sicily.