Breeding

Courtship singing is most frequent in July, August, and December in southern Colombia (Gertler and McKay, in Hilty and Brown 1986), and males in breeding condition were collected in north central Colombia in June (Hilty and Brown 1986). A nest in Barinas, Venezuela, had eggs in March and nestlings in April (Ascanio, in Hilty 2003).

Greeney and Wetherwax (2005) report observations of a Lyre-tailed Nightjar nest from 21-26 August 2002 in northwest Ecuador, at 1750 m n disturbed forest and pasture surrounded by primary forest. The nest, in an abandoned brick-and-cement fireplace, was a small scrape cleared of debris. There was one nestling, estimated to be 4 days old at the start of observation. Only the adult female cared for the nestling; the authors detected no males in the area. Feeding by regurgitation took place primarily in three time periods during the night: the beginning of the evening (18:00-20:00), the middle of the night (22:30-01:30), and again a few times in the early morning (05:30-06:30). When approached by an observer, the nestling commenced a threat display, lunging forward with wings outstretched and mouth open. The following are measurements of nestling weight over a five-day period: 15.6 g (5 days old); 18.8 g (6 days); 19.9 g (7 days); 23.5 g (8 days); 28.0 g (10 days).