Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.
Unknown to Ecuador.
Discontinuously from south-eastern Mexico to the Guianas; and discontinuously from north-western and northern Brazil south through south-eastern Peru, northern and east-central Bolivia to eastern Paraguay and south-eastern Brazil.
 
Population
Estimated population is 50,000 - 499,999 (2010).
Spot-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis maculicaudus) [XC314664]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Minatitlan, refineria de SAnta Alejandrina, Veracruz, Mexico (song)
Spot-tailed Nightjar (Hydropsalis maculicaudus) [XC474055]
by JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA from Esta\u00e7\u00e3o Ecol\u00f3gica Estadual de Guaxindiba, S\u00e3o Francisco de Itabapoana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (song)
Subspecies
Considered by some authors sufficiently distinctive to merit isolation in a separate genus, in which case Antiurus is available. Disjunct populations could represent more than one species.