It was described in 1916 from bones found in a cave in north central Puerto Rico and a single skin specimen from 1888, and was considered extinct until observed in the wild in 1961.

Puerto Rican nightjars, whose song is composed of rapid "whip" notes, are small birds about 22–23 cm in length, weighing 39–41 g. Similar to the Antillean nighthawk, the species has a mottled, black, brown and gray colored plumage which serves as camouflage while the bird is perched on the ground.

The nightjar is presently mostly found in closed canopy dry forest on limestone soils with abundant leaf litter and an open understorey.

[6] The Puerto Rican nightjar feeds on beetles, moths and other insects that it catches in flight.

[3] Like many ground-nesting birds, the nightjar will try to divert the attention of potential predators away from the nest by conspicuously flying away and vibrating its wings.

[1][3] It is possible that the large scale deforestation that occurred during the late 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s is the reason that the nightjars are no longer found on the north part of the island.

[5][7] Mitigating habitat impact on private lands and controlling public access to the forest reserves during their peak nesting season has been suggested as a conservation management technique for this species.