Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda.
Vagrant to Gambia, Togo.
Patchily from Gambia, Senegal and western Sierra Leone east through Nigeria and Cameroon to south-eastern Sudan and western Kenya, and south to Congo and south-western Zaire.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-shouldered Nightjar (Caprimulgus nigriscapularis) [XC397167]
by Lars Lachmann from Track E of R82. North of Rain Forest Lodge (Jukwa), near Kakum NP, Ghana (song)
Black-shouldered Nightjar (Caprimulgus nigriscapularis) [XC712725]
by Peter Boesman from Shai Hills Reserve, Ghana (song)
Subspecies
Fiery-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus pectoralis) and Black-shouldered Nightjar (Caprimulgus nigriscapularis) (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) are retained as separate species contra Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993) who include nigriscapularis as a subspecies of Fiery-necked Nightjar (Caprimulgus pectoralis).