The Australian logrunner, Orthonyx temminckii, is from northeastern New South Wales and southeast Queensland, where it is very local in its distribution, and strictly terrestrial in its habits.

The chowchilla, Orthonyx spaldingii, from north-east Queensland, is much larger than either species of logrunner, and has a jet-black plumage, the throat being white in the male and orange-rufous in the female.

[5] Chowchillas are characterized by their dark brown coloration on the upper parts of their bodies, a black head, and a blue-gray eye ring.

Like the lyrebirds, logrunners typically breed in the southern winter from June to September, though this is often extended depending on weather conditions by a month or more.

The young generally become independent of the female in two to two and a half weeks, which is an exceptionally short time for an insectivorous altricial Australian bird,[7] where parental dependence of forty to sixty days post-fledging is typical.

[10] This is probably why, unlike in birds of drier habitats in Australia, alloparental care is superfluous for rearing young and may actually increase the risk of predation.

They have special coverings to prevent the extremely heavy downpours typical of the eastern Australian coast from damaging the egg(s).