: 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 survey monitors for a total of 11 species, eight species of owls and three species of nightjar.
—
Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch, 16 Mar. 2026
As for what these glorious creatures sound like, the great eared nightjar's piercing call can be heard at dawn and dusk.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
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 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
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Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch, 16 Mar. 2026
As for what these glorious creatures sound like, the great eared nightjar's piercing call can be heard at dawn and dusk.
—Marina Watts, PEOPLE, 9 Jan. 2026
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 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
Cite this Entry
“Nightjar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nightjar. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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