Justification This species has a very small range and very small breeding population which is thought to be in decline, and is therefore classified as Endangered. If present intensive conservation efforts are unable to stop the extirpation of the tiny subpopulations, then the species will be uplisted to Critically Endangered.

Family/Sub-family Meliphagidae

Species name author (Wilson, 1911)

Taxonomic source(s) Christidis and Boles (1994)

Taxonomic note Manorina flavigula (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into M. flavigula and M. melanotis following Christidis and Boles (1994).

Identification 23-26 cm. Medium-sized, grey honeyeater with black face mask, grey rump and tail concolorous with back. Sexes alike. Mid- to dark grey upperparts. Olive-yellow edged remiges and outer rectrices. Black mask from bill to ear-coverts. Dark grey, sub-moustachial stripe. Grey chin and upper throat, finely mottled on breast. White belly. Yellow bill and skin behind eye. Juvenile more brown. Similar spp. Yellow-throated Miner M. flavigula has white-tipped tail and whitish rump. Hybrid melanotis x flavigula has pale-tipped tail, paler grey on rump and sub-moustachial stripe. Voice Variety of harsh notes, chattering.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

250-999

decreasing

1,700 km²

Yes

Range & population Manorina melanotis is endemic to the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, Australia, and is thought to have been distributed throughout most of this region prior to European settlement⁸. Range and numbers declined dramatically during the 1990s. In 1995, it was reported that just 28 birds were known in the wild, in north-west Victoria. Searches for the species in South Australia during the 1980s and New South Wales in 1993 were unsuccessful in locating the species⁸. Conservation measures have since assisted the species's recovery. Extensive surveys during 2000-2002 found that the Bookmark Biosphere Reserve (Bookmark BR) in South Australia supported c.3,750 individuals, although the effective population size was only 390 (210-726) due to a skewed sex ratio (adults: 1 female: 1.81 males) and the species's complex social organisation². This represented over 95% of the species's total effective population. These surveys were conducted during an upward population fluctuation², following a series of good seasons, and the population may now stand at the lower end of these estimates owing to a drought in the region and a fire in 2006⁷. A smaller population of 53 (32-85) colonies of pure and hybrid birds (from interbreeding with the Yellow-throated Miner M. flavigula) persists in the Murray Sunset National Park (Murray Sunset NP) and a number of other scattered colonies of varying quality exist throughout the species's range in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales².

Important Bird Areas Click here to view map showing IBAs where species is recorded and triggers any of the IBA criteria.

Ecology: The species occupies semi-arid mallee habitats, that is, eucalyptus woodland in which individual trees are multi-stemmed from ground level and seldom taller than 10 m². Densities are highest in areas containing mallee-Triodia associations, or mallee with an open understorey, situated at least 2 km from clearings that exceed 100 ha², that has not been heavily grazed or burnt for 45 years. The species occupies mallee that has remained unburnt for at least 20 years⁸, but it is unknown whether there is a maximum age after burning when habitat becomes unsuitable. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that mallee unburnt for at least 150 years (becoming park-like open woodland) is only occupied by M. flavigula. The required area of intact mallee for a viable population may exceed 13,000 ha². The species's distribution in Victoria is positively correlated with stable dunefields with a relatively high loam level, amount of decorticating bark (from which it obtains much of its insect food), tree density, stem density, canopy cover and litter cover. The presence of a mosaic of burn types may have facilitated the genetic isolation of the species from M. flavigula. Populations can breed continuously for over 12 months given favourable conditions such as periods of above average rainfall². A study of one colony found that 81.8% of females and only 13.9% of males bred per season³. It is a cooperative breeder with up to 13 helpers, mostly males, assisting the nest of a breeding pair³. Colonies may wander over areas of 8-10 km² in the non-breeding season, although they show high breeding-site fidelity⁸.

Threats The fundamental reason for its decline is the clearance of the majority of favourable habitat. Although European settlers reached the Murray Mallee region in 1860s, it was not until the early 20th century that widespread clearing for cropping and pasture began, and in the 1930s pastoralists dug dams and drains and cleared vegetation to increase water flow⁸. This has resulted in displacement of M. melanotis in habitat remnants by M. flavigula, and interbreeding between the two species is now the greatest threat to M. melanotis. Recent introgression is particularly evident in isolated colonies that occur in small areas of remnant habitat². A study of specimens of M. melanotis and M. flavigula from museums world wide, suggests that hybridisation increased markedly around the middle of the 20th century as dam construction and mallee clearance further increased⁸. Isolated colonies have a low rate of recruitment, either as a result of elevated rates of nest-predation or as a result of emigration from the natal colony. Much remaining habitat in Victoria and New South Wales has been burnt within the last 25 years. The populations at Bookmark BR and Murray Sunset NP are at high risk of extinction from large-scale wildfire². A single large fire in Murray Sunset NP rendered over half of the remaining prime habitat unsuitable for the species between 1980 and 1990², and habitat fragmentation now means that fires can burn whole reserves². A fire in the Bookmark BR in late November and early December 2006 burnt 115,000 ha of mallee habitat, including much of the core area for the species and reducing the area of available habitat for the species by about a third, or possibly more, but creating a natural fire break for unburnt areas⁷. The modern ability to suppress fires has likely resulted in a reduction in the proportion of fires at a moderate scale (100 ha - 10,000 ha), which tend to burn at a variety of intensities providing patchiness and fire refuges². The species is thought to be prone to fluctuations in response to variable climatic conditions, with extended periods of drought limiting breeding and periods of above average rainfall promoting extended breeding⁴; observations suggest the average change in colony size could be c.50% either way².

Conservation measures underway In reaction to the species's very low numbers in the mid-1990s, a colony of seven males and two females was taken into captivity in order to establish a captive breeding colony⁸. Management actions completed or underway include genetic studies, regular surveys and monitoring, the study of habitat preference in Victoria, the purchase of leases within Bookmark BR, the adoption of a policy of rapid fire suppression within mallee in Victoria and South Australia, research into reproductive biology and ecology, establishment of a captive population, colony translocations, generation of community support and the establishment of a recovery team¹. The threat of M. flavigula is tackled by the closure and revegetation of dams, and strategic removal of colonies⁸. Between 1996 and 2002 intensive field studies located a previously unknown population and a number of isolated colonies throughout the species's historic range². These searches identified what is now known to be the largest population of the species, in the Bookmark BR². In 2003, 45 captive reared birds were released in the Bronzewing Flora and Fauna reserve, Victoria, and unsuccessful breeding attempts occurred within days of release⁵. In 2005, surveys revealed that unsuccessful breeding attempts were still taking place amongst at least 11 surviving captive-reared birds and other unringed birds, and observations suggested that successful breeding had occurred, with a possible offspring from a previous nest acting as a helper⁶. Monitoring at Bookmark BR will be carried out during the 2007 breeding season, which will allow the assessment of the impact of a fire there in November and December 2006⁷.

Conservation measures proposed Study rate and mechanisms for genetic introgression. Determine and monitor habitat quality. Increase number and quality of colonies in Victoria. Develop and test a population viability model. Total suppression of fires to increase the carrying capacity of protected areas². Ensure habitat protection². Continue translocation efforts². Consider strategy of limiting the spread of wildfire at key sites, especially in long unburnt areas that will become suitable over the next two decades².

References Garnett and Crowley (2000). 1. Clarke et al. (2002). 2. Clarke et al. (2005). 3. E. Moysey per Clarke et al. (2005). 4. R. Boulton per Clarke et al. (2005). 5. Clarke (2004). 6. Clarke (2006). 7. R. Clarke in litt. (2007). 8. Clarke (2007).

Further web sources of information

Australian Govt - Action Plan for Australian Birds 2000 - Recovery Outline

Text account compilers Phil Benstead (BirdLife International), Stephen Garnett (Charles Darwin University), Stephen Garnett (Birds Australia), Rachel McClellan (BirdLife International), Joe Taylor (BirdLife International)

Contributors Rohan Clarke (Deakin University)

IUCN Red List evaluators Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Guy Dutson (Birds Australia), Stephen Garnett (Charles Darwin University), Joe Taylor (BirdLife International)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Manorina melanotis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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