Some concern is being expressed about the state of our endemic Australian Painted-snipe. This is listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act, but it is not among the 22 bird taxons listed as priorities in the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2023. The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020 says that ‘numbers may now be down to 340 mature individuals’. Monitoring is described as ‘very poor, relying on the assembly of opportunistic records of birdwatchers …’ . Since the beginning of 2021, there has been an alarmingly small number of reports in the online recording. Pending a more organised approach to assessment of numbers, I am proposing here that an effort be made to get into a central point all recent observations of the species, including those of an opportunistic nature that might not otherwise find their way into the records.
The period concerned is 1 January 2021 to the present, and continuing. Please send reports to Birdlife Australia, not to me. The contact is Chris Purnell, a co-addressee above. Precise locations need not be disclosed, if that is a consideration in deciding whether to make a report.
Geoffrey Dabb
