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Marbled Frogmouths are the smallest of all frogmouths found in Australia, with race "plumiferus" being the tallest. Their highly cryptic plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are slightly different. Male Marbled Frogmouths are primarily light silvery-grey with an abundance of brownish-grey scalloping on the front, while the back is more brownish-grey with lighter scalloping. Females generally have a more rufous tinge than males and can have an overall rufous morphology in which only some spots on the wing coverts are silvery-grey. The combination of rufous and dark-grey can lead to an overall dark-brown impression. All races and both sexes have a proportionally longer tail than other species of frogmouths in Australia. The irises are orange (rarely yellowish). Bill, legs and feet are grey.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Marbled Frogmouth is available HERE .

There are 5 recognized races of Marbled Frogmouths that are subdivided into two groups, the "marbled" (ocellatus group) and the "plumed" group (with only one race, "plumiferus").

All members of the ocellatus group are found in tropical regions, on New Guinea (all the way from West Papua to Normanby Island) the island chain along the Torres Strait and on Cape York peninsula, QLD.

On the Australian continent, Marbled Frogmouths are found only in small areas. Race "marmoratus" resides right at the tip of Cape York peninsula, QLD, and along a narrow coastal strip along the eastern base of Cape York peninsula, from Iron Range NP to near Yarraden, QLD.

The southern (subtropical) race "plumiferus" is found along the near-coastal eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range from Great Sandy NP, QLD, to the Ballina/Lismore area in north-eastern NSW.

Marbled Frogmouths have a preference for rainforest in an altitude range from ca. 50-800 m, in both subtropical and tropical regions.

Race "plumiferus"