La Trobe University-led research has found a major breeding event has triggered a population rebound for one of the world’s most unique and threatened birds.
A recent survey in northern Victoria uncovered a record number of plains-wanderers – a small, quail-like bird that lives only in eastern Australia grasslands, and represents an ancient lineage of birds that evolved in Gondwana more than 100 million years ago.
The bird is so critically endangered and taxonomically unique it is ranked the number one priority for conservation action among birds of the world by the Zoological Society of London.
La Trobe University PhD student Dan Nugent said the team found more plains-wanderers during the recent survey than since monitoring started in 2010.
“We detected 60 adults and 41 chicks,’’ he said.
“This is more than double the previous best result in 2018 when 30 adults and 17 chicks were detected.
“A further encouraging sign was that 85 per cent of monitoring sites supported plains-wanderers – the highest percentage of sites since surveys began 12 years ago.”
Since 2010, ecologists have monitored plains-wanderer numbers in native grasslands across private and public land on the northern plains.
North Central Catchment Management Authority project manager Laura Chant said as well as improvements in technology and survey methods over the years, the record numbers were likely the result of both human and non-human intervention.
“The La Nina climate cycle facilitated a widespread and prolonged breeding event, which is likely to have boosted their numbers,” she said.
“Also, it’s highly likely the habitat management and protection measures we, and several partner organisations, have taken over many years to protect this incredible bird are proving to be highly effective – including conservation covenants and strategic grazing of conservation reserves.”
In Victoria, habitat loss driven by conversion of native grasslands to croplands was a major threat.