[3] The adult male silky-tailed nightjar has light grey-brown, vermiculated plumage with a strong blackish streak on the top of the head and the nape.

The mantle, back, rump, and upper tail of a silky-tailed nightjar converts to blackish-brown with irregular patterns of buff and cinnamon.

[4] The nominate subspecies of silky-tailed nightjar is found in the Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil, eastern Paraguay, and extreme northeastern Argentina (Misiones Province).

A. s. mengeli is found in eastern Peru, northwestern Bolivia, and in scattered sites in Brazil's Pará state.

[7] The nestlings also forage for ground insects around the nest-site or pick up small soil granules to aid in digestion.

[6] Adult nightjars have been observed to share incubation duties with the female partner attending the nest throughout the day and the male at night.

[10] After flushing, adults reposition themselves, facing the same way and parallel to the trail, which provides them a larger open area to escape from potential predators.

[1] Because "the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon Basin [are] constantly threatened with human development...known populations of the Silky-tailed Nightjar may rapidly decline.