Australian Logrunner Orthonyx temminckii Scientific name definitions

18–21 cm; male 58–75 g, female 49–58 g. Male has supercilium and side of face grey, crown dark rufous with faint darker edging of feathers (creating scalloped effect); nape, mantle and back brown, each feather broadly edged with black on one web and with pale shaft streak (producing mottled appearance), rump rufous; upperwing-coverts black with broad pale grey tips (forming two wingbars); remiges grey-brown, becoming dark brown towards base, primaries with small buff spot on margin of leading web (forming bar on closed wing), secondaries with extensive buff-rufous edging, increasing in width inwards, outer web of tertials almost entirely buff-rufous; tail grey-brown; chin, throat and upper breast white with black border, breast side grey, lower breast and belly white, flanks and undertail-coverts olive-rufous; iris dark brown; bill and legs black. Female is like male, except that chin, throat and upper breast are orange-rufous . Juvenile has upperparts rusty rufous, feathers with pale central streaks and blackish-brown tips, wing as adult but with markings pale rufous-buff, underparts light rusty with black-brown mottling, lighter on belly; immature as respective adult but retains most of juvenile wing feathers, has wingbars buff.

E Australia from extreme SE Queensland (Bunya Mts) S in mountain ranges and coastal regions to CE New South Wales (Illawarra district).

Subtropical and temperate rainforest, edges of contiguous wet sclerophyll forest and dense fringing vegetation, including introduced species such as lantana (Lantana) and blackberry (Rubus fruticosus).

Sedentary. Recoveries of marked individuals all less than 10 km from site of original ringing.

Insects and other small soil invertebrates. Forages mostly on ground ; activity starts at first light. Initially removes larger objects (e.g. sticks, rocks) on surface by sideways kicks of feet , with bill occasionally used; once top layer of leaf litter removed, subsequent scratching involves front-to-back movement of legs and feet , often using tail as brace while moving on circular course, thereby creating distinctive cleared circular patches in leaf litter.

Song , given in early morning and late evening (rarely during day), a loud, penetrating, high-pitched “kweek, be-kweek-kweek-kweek-kweek”, with territorial and possibly courtship function; also “tu-weet-weet-weet”, given 3–4 times. Contact call a loud double “kweet” note, occasionally given singly; chattering series of rapid staccato notes; alarm note shrill and piercing.

Season May–Aug, sometimes earlier or later (extremes Mar–Jan); one or two broods per season. Availability of leaf-litter invertebrates is similar during this winter-breeding season to that in warmer months (1 Goosem, C.H., Booth, D.T. and Walter, G.H. (2015). Winter breeding of a subtropical rainforest passerine: spatio-temporal distribution of prey and the sex-related foraging behaviour of the Southern Logrunner, Orthonyx temminckii. Emu. 115(4): 345–355. Close ). Territorial throughout year, territory defended aggressively by both sexes. Male feeds female during courtship , and also at other times during year. Nest, built by female alone, taking c. 1 month, domed, with side entrance opening at ground level and continuing inside as corridor, built of leaves, leaf litter, twigs, sticks, moss and ferns, lined with moss, grasses and plant fibres; external height 17·8–30·5 cm, external diameter 21·6–45·7 cm, entrance platform (7·5–30 cm) of sticks and leaves matted with moss extending from entrance; usually placed on ground against trunk or clump of vegetation, sometimes up to 1·2 m above ground in dense vegetation. Clutch usually 2 eggs, sometimes 1 or 3, white, average 28·7 × 21·3 mm; incubation by female alone, sitting for c. 75% of daylight hours, in stints of 6·2–132·8 minutes (mean 69·2 minutes), with breaks of 2·3–55·2 minutes (mean 20·7 minutes), incubation period 21–25 days; chicks fed by female, leave nest at 18–19 days; fledglings fed by both parents, although often each young fed more or less exclusively by one parent; single observation of an apparent additional adult feeding young; juveniles may remain with parents for several months. Maximum recorded longevity more than 6 years 9 months.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Common in N part of range, decreasing towards S, until becoming rare at S limits. Adversely affected by modification of habitat, including clearance and fragmentation; may persist in fragments 1–2·5 ha in size, but rarely survives in smaller remnants. Concerns about effects of introduced plant species appear largely unfounded, as this species has adapted to these; will use alien vegetation when latter is contiguous with wetter forest habitat.