Back from extinction: The Mallee emu wren makes a comeback in South Australia

ABC Riverland 

By Sowaibah Hanifie

Posted Sun at 5:43am

After a series of catastrophic wildfires in 2014, the Mallee emu wren became extinct in South Australia, but the birds are making a comeback in the state with the help of environmentalists.

When the tiny bird — weighing only as much as a 10 cent piece — could no longer be found in SA, there were still numbers that existed in parts of Victoria's north-west, but they were listed as endangered.

In one of the three national parks where they remained, Victoria's Wyperfeld National Park, their numbers were only in the hundreds.

Researchers were concerned a severe bushfire season would threaten the remaining population.

Numerous organisations in South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, together with the support of the South Australian Government, devised a breeding program over four years to boost the birds' numbers.

Continued  

Endangered short-tailed grasswren population survives fire in remote South Australia

ABC North and West 

By Khama Reid

Updated Sat at 3:28am

A survey of a remote, rocky habitat full of spinifex grass in South Australia has found a rare bird still lives in the area, despite fears it could have been wiped out in a fire six years ago.

The short-tailed grasswren is only found in South Australia, with the Gawler Ranges subspecies classed as endangered, and Flinders Ranges subspecies considered vulnerable.

Catherine Lynch, Community Ecologist with Natural Resources SA Arid Lands, said the Gawler Ranges was last surveyed in 2006 but a fire had swept through since in 2011.

"We determined that there was that need there to better understand the status of the species in the Gawler Ranges and investigate how they were faring after that fire.

"That was one of the drivers for carrying out the survey this year."

The survey showed the population had remained stable and, although the birds weren't found at some of their previously known habitats, they had resettled elsewhere.

Fifty-seven sites were surveyed with grasswrens recorded at 20.

Ms Lynch said it was difficult to determine if the population had varied, but it was a relief to confirm they were still in the area.

"There was certainly a lot of concern from leading ornithologists in South Australia about the state of short-tailed grasswrens both in the Flinders Ranges and the Gawler Ranges," she said.

Read on  

Numbers of woodland birds declining in South Australia

David Paton, The Advertiser

October 26, 2017 10:30am

BIRD week is a time to celebrate our feathered friends. But the cacophony of diverse calls that makes a dawn chorus special is diminishing.

Woodland birds are disappearing from our landscapes. We are heading towards a “Silent Spring”.

Rachel Carson in the 1960s used these emotive words to draw attention to losses of birds to pesticides.

And the world acted. Now, if we are to save our woodland birds, we must act.

Adelaide’s Mount Lofty region is a biodiversity hotspot, one of just 15 recognised in Australia.

Biodiversity hotpots should be the last place where species are disappearing — but disappearing they are. They are heading towards extinction.

Surveys of the distributions of woodland birds in 2012-14 showed most species had declined since 1984-85, many by 30-50 per cent.

Read on 

BIRD FOUND DEAD ON BEACH 'SHOT'

A bird found dead on a beach on Kangaroo Island appears to have been shot.

The osprey, a rare species in South Australia, was found by a member of the public on Brownlow Beach, near Kingscote.

Rob Ellis of the South Australian Environment Department said there was a wound consistent with the bird having been fired at.

"It's really distressing because these animals they're rare, so they're declining in South Australia and to actually have a sub-adult killed maliciously is, you know, really quite distressing," he said.

Mr Ellis said osprey numbers were already in decline due to issues such as insecticide use and nest disturbance.

"We're just coming out of the breeding season, so September, October and part of November is the breeding season for these birds. And the sad thing is that if this animal had been involved in a breeding event, the chicks may have been doomed to also perish," he said.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/15443561/rare-bird-found-dead-on-beach/