White-throated Needletails declared Vulnerable by BirdLife Australia

G’day Bird Enthusiasts Stephen Garnett has just informed me that the WTNT has been declared Vulnerable. Thank you all for helping to collect the data to make this declaration. Here are the details: White-throated Needletail Hirundapus caudacutus caudacutus Listed in Australia as Vulnerable A2b+3b+4b Evidence has been presented in Tarburton (2014) that there has been a decline in the migratory subspecies exceeding 30%. This decline has been corroborated using a number of independent data sources. It has been attributed primarily to habitat loss in the breeding grounds. Only Criterion A can apply as the subspecies occurs over too large an area for Criterion B, is too numerous for Criteria C and D and has not been modelled in a manner suitable for Criterion E. The rapid decline has been occurring over a long period so this probably counts as a correction to the 2010 Action Plan, but listing probably could not be justified for 1992 or 2000. At this stage only criteria A2b+3b +4b apply – declines of 30-50% in 3 generations (25.5 years) based on an index of abundance appropriate to the taxon. The suggestion that the decline is caused by habitat loss, though likely, is still a little speculative to warrant A2c. As a result of sending my last Annual report on WTNT, Alastair Smith has requested that I mention how many of my records come from eBird, so to be fair I have dug out all group resources and hope I have not missed any. These are the number of observations from each source – and of course there are many sightings reported in more than one location. Sources are (in alphabetical order): animalfineartbycheryl-ann.com (1), Bellingen Birders per Richard Jordan (12), Billandsuedownunder.blogspot.com.au/ (1), Biocache (10), Birding-Aus (44), BLAtlas (112), Birdlife Goldcoast per John Allsop (11), BL East Gippsland per Chris Healey (50), Birding NSW per Tom Wilson (1), Birdline & Birdline rejects thankfully sent on to me (118), Birds WA (1), Blue Mtns B.O. -Mark Ley (31), BQ per Brian Tynan (2), Cairns Birds (3), Canberra Birds/COG per Mark Clayton (17), Direct (1752), e-Bird (767), Eremaea Birdline (126), FSCB- Barbara Jones (36), geoffpark.wordpress.com (1), Hunterbirding (40), per other intermediary (172), The Twitcher per Alan Morris (21), Please have a great Swift season, & I look forward to receiving this season’s results. Mike =================== Michael Tarburton tarburton.m@optusnet.com.au ===================