Hi all,
I took a bit of an interest in plains-wanderers (PW) while I was writing the Riverina Biodiversity Plan for NPWS (as it was then) back in about 2001, although I will freely admit that others know more than I. Neville Schrader was one of the experts that I consulted while doing that work so I would take on board Neville’s comments.
There is a theory that most of the native grasslands are in fact induced, ie created as an artifact of habitat modification by people. That isn’t to say that they don’t have a lot of conservation importance- they seem to have a high proportion of threatened species, incl. PW. So what did exist where the grasslands are now? Well from memory, in the riverina they were thought to be some sort of saltbush shrubland, presumably with some grasses. The question that comes to mind of course is where were the PW? Did (or do they) they live in saltbush? I assume we still don’t know the answer to that.
As far as having grassland that is suitable for PW, I think that during wet years the only way to keep the grass open enough for them is to have a low density of sheep. At least that was the idea. Others will know more specifics on this, David Parker is one that springs to mind, if he is still on birding-aus. Oolambeyan NP in NSW was being managed in this way.
I take Neville’s point that just because something becomes seen less often doesn’t mean that it is plunging towards extinction. However, birds like PW make me nervous. They seem to me to have a tenuous grip on the planet- I wonder whether during one of the apparent population drops they will not come back sufficiently.
Mick
