This large nocturnal bird has a broad bill and a long tail. It rests by day near forest edges, and its gray-brown plumage and barring blend with its surroundings.
It is gray-brown with bars across the underparts and tail. It has a broad, frog-like bill and long tail, and is exceptionally large among frogmouths.
It is nocturnal and rests by day. It uses edges of dense forest, including mangroves, and may roost above water.
At Kutini-Payamu National Park in November 2011, a nest about 15 m up a tree at a streamside rainforest edge held one chick brooded by a male. It lay on a kink in a branch among epiphytic ferns.
In the Lockhart River region of Cape York Peninsula one evening in August 2015, two birds locked bills in a contest lasting more than four minutes. One perched above while the other hung below, unable to reach the branch with its feet.
The iris is red.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.