5 thoughts on “Painted Honeyeater (Grantiella picta): Revise global status?”
The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2022.1 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Dear Red List Team
I have been running a banding study on Painted Honeyeaters at Ungarie in Central NSW since 2017. We noted a very large decline in the number of Painted Honeyeaters encountered at our study site (a breeding hotspot for the species) during and after the extremely severe drought and heat waves that occurred in the summer of 2019-20. Two years later numbers are only just showing signs of recovery. The 2019-20 summer was severe across the entire summer range of the Painted Honeyeater. In September 2020 we conducted a landscape scale snapshot survey of Painted Honeyeater habitat across inland NSW, visiting 355 sites but finding only 87 individual Painted Honeyeaters. A paper on this is currently in final review with the journal CORELLA.
While we acknowledge the analysis performed by Watson et al. (2021), we take the view that Painted Honeyeaters are very specialised in the habitat and dietary requirements and susceptible to extreme landscape scale events such as the summer of 2019-20, as well as ongoing land clearing across their range. Their preferred habitat, acacia scrubland, is poorly represented in protected reserves in NSW, much of it occurs in roadside easements and travelling stock reserves, all of which are at risk from clearing. The habitat requirements of the species in its overwinter grounds (believed to be primarily in inland northern Queensland) are extremely poorly understood and may also be at risk, given the substantial land clearing activity currently occurring in this region. We therefore suggest that the Vulnerable status of this species may be appropriate to retain.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Painted Honeyeater is recommended to be listed as Least Concern.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 21 February 2022. We will now analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’s Red List status on this page on 21 February 2022, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2022.1 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 27 February 2022, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Dear Red List Team
I have been running a banding study on Painted Honeyeaters at Ungarie in Central NSW since 2017. We noted a very large decline in the number of Painted Honeyeaters encountered at our study site (a breeding hotspot for the species) during and after the extremely severe drought and heat waves that occurred in the summer of 2019-20. Two years later numbers are only just showing signs of recovery. The 2019-20 summer was severe across the entire summer range of the Painted Honeyeater. In September 2020 we conducted a landscape scale snapshot survey of Painted Honeyeater habitat across inland NSW, visiting 355 sites but finding only 87 individual Painted Honeyeaters. A paper on this is currently in final review with the journal CORELLA.
While we acknowledge the analysis performed by Watson et al. (2021), we take the view that Painted Honeyeaters are very specialised in the habitat and dietary requirements and susceptible to extreme landscape scale events such as the summer of 2019-20, as well as ongoing land clearing across their range. Their preferred habitat, acacia scrubland, is poorly represented in protected reserves in NSW, much of it occurs in roadside easements and travelling stock reserves, all of which are at risk from clearing. The habitat requirements of the species in its overwinter grounds (believed to be primarily in inland northern Queensland) are extremely poorly understood and may also be at risk, given the substantial land clearing activity currently occurring in this region. We therefore suggest that the Vulnerable status of this species may be appropriate to retain.
Happy to discuss this further if you would like!
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested by so many people in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the new information, and we will post a final decision on this species’ Red List status on this page on 7 March 2022.
Recommended categorisation to be put forward to IUCN
The final categorisation for this species has not changed. Painted Honeyeater is recommended to be listed as Least Concern.
Many thanks for everyone who contributed to the 2022.1 GTB Forum process. The final 2022.1 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in July 2022, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.