: any of a family (Caprimulgidae) of medium-sized long-winged crepuscular or nocturnal birds (such as the whippoorwills and nighthawks) having a short bill, short legs, and soft mottled plumage and feeding on insects which they catch on the wing
called also goatsucker
Examples of nightjar in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The activity offers unique wildlife-watching opportunities like late night lemur-spotting and midnight expeditions in search of nightjars, while destinations range from the African savannah to the lush jungles of southern Japan.
—
Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025
There are a handful of parrot, owl, nightjar, penguin, and puffin species that are known to have biofuorescent feathers or patches of skin.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2025
By behaving in ways that real whip-poor-wills never do, Dunwich’s nightjars symbolize the horrors the Whateleys unleash on the townspeople.
—Jared Del Rosso, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024
Timor nightjars have small beaks, brown feathers and a bright white spot on their tails, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 3 July 2024
Timor nightjars are nocturnal and live in a wide variety of forests but remain poorly known.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 3 July 2024
In that episode in Puerto Rico, a developer had cleared scarce habitat of the endangered nightjar in 2014 before completing any environmental review.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 2 May 2023
The site, as the tower company later acknowledged, destroyed some of the nesting habitat of the Puerto Rican nightjar, a tiny endangered songbird.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 2 May 2023
The research group found that the cilia are notably absent from feathers of barn owls and nightjars, two species that stalk prey at night.
—Jim Daley, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2020
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Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025
There are a handful of parrot, owl, nightjar, penguin, and puffin species that are known to have biofuorescent feathers or patches of skin.
—Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 23 Feb. 2025
By behaving in ways that real whip-poor-wills never do, Dunwich’s nightjars symbolize the horrors the Whateleys unleash on the townspeople.
—Jared Del Rosso, The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2024
Timor nightjars have small beaks, brown feathers and a bright white spot on their tails, the study said.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 3 July 2024
Timor nightjars are nocturnal and live in a wide variety of forests but remain poorly known.
—Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, 3 July 2024
In that episode in Puerto Rico, a developer had cleared scarce habitat of the endangered nightjar in 2014 before completing any environmental review.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 2 May 2023
The site, as the tower company later acknowledged, destroyed some of the nesting habitat of the Puerto Rican nightjar, a tiny endangered songbird.
—Peter Elkind, ProPublica, 2 May 2023
The research group found that the cilia are notably absent from feathers of barn owls and nightjars, two species that stalk prey at night.
—Jim Daley, Scientific American, 10 Apr. 2020
Cite this Entry
“Nightjar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nightjar. Accessed 29 Jul. 2025.
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