This nocturnal forest bird has several regional forms. The distribution entry here is limited to the marmoratus subspecies in northeastern Australia.
Adults are mainly brown, with dark and buff spotting and streaking on the upperparts and wings and a pale eyebrow. The sexes differ slightly in pattern.
It is active around dusk and at night, resting low in the forest near roots and branches. It feeds mainly on insects and other invertebrates.
For the Cape York subspecies marmoratus, two nests southeast of Coen in 1974 and at Iron Range in 1979 each held one egg. The small nests stood on branches near creeks and used fibers and palm bark.
At Maiala in southeastern Queensland, all 13 observed nests of subspecies plumiferus during 1997–2002 contained a single chick.
At the 13 Maiala nests, males incubated or brooded by day and females attended for at least the first part of the night. One chick moved about 1 m along its nest branch before it could fly.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.