It is mostly found in the southeastern United States (with disjunct populations in Long Island, New York; Ontario, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts) near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods.

The chuck-will's-widow was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[4] Chuck-will's-widow is now placed with 11 other species in the genus Antrostomus that was erected by the French naturalist Charles Bonaparte in 1838.

[10] This bird is sometimes confused with the better-known whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus),[11] because of their similar calls and unusual names.

It has mottled brownish underparts, a buff throat, reddish-brown feathers lined with black, and brown and white patterning on head and chest.

It eats primarily insects, particularly those active at night such as moths, beetles, and winged ants.