Falling within the states of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, this EBA is characterized by watercourses (including the Murray and Darling rivers) lined with eucalypt woodland, and patches of mallee (a particularly distinct, semi-arid woodland of multi-stemmed eucalypts).

Four of the restricted-range bird species are mallee specialists, making this habitat a very important one in this EBA.

Of the EBA's seven restricted-range species, three have particularly small ranges: Psophodes nigro- gularis, which occurs in two isolated populations, with the race lashmari on Kangaroo Island and leucogaster in a small number of widely scattered localities in southern South Australia and north-west Victoria; Dasyornis broadbenti, which occurs in several disjunct populations, with the race whitei occurring discontinuously in south-east South Australia and nominate broadbenti on the coast in south-west Victoria; and Manorina melanotis, which is now restricted to seven sites in north-west Victoria and one in South Australia.

One species which has been treated here as restricted-range, Polytelis swainsonii, is found from northern central New South Wales (beyond the boundary of this EBA) south to northern Victoria, but breeding is apparently confined to the southern part of its distribution (entirely within this EBA), particularly the areas of the Murrumbidgee, Edward and Murray rivers.

Another possible restricted-range species, which is endemic to this EBA, is Yellow Rosella Platycercus flaveolus. This taxon is recognized as a species by Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993) but not by most other recent authors, including Christidis and Boles (1994) (there appears to be extensive hybridization between this form and Crimson Rosella P. elegans).

A further two restricted-range species occur in this EBA as winter visitors: Swift Parrot Lathamus discolor and Orange-bellied Parrot Neophema chrysogaster (both from Tasmania, EBA 185).

South-east Australia has suffered one extinction, that of Dromaius baudinianus from Kangaroo Island, attributed to hunting and excessive burning of habitat (Garnett 1993), and on the mainland clearance of mallee has led to the decline of its specialist birds through habitat fragmentation. The region now has many protected areas which help to conserve surviving populations: those with mallee habitat include Murray-Sunset National Park (6,330 km²), Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (480 km²), Billiat Conservation Park (600 km²), the Big Desert Wilderness (1,135 km²), Wyperfield National Park (1,000 km²) and Ngarkat Conservation Park (2,080 km²). Although habitat degradation through overgrazing by stock (and by kangaroos) and fire remain threats, and bird populations may fluctuate owing to fire patterns, Stipiturus mallee and Pachycephala rufogularis respond well to management practices which provide them with appropriate habitat (D. Franklin per K. Fitzherbert in litt. 1994). As these measures are judged to prevent the species qualifying for threatened status, they are classified as Conservation Dependent (but see Schodde 1990).

Such protection measures are not sufficient, however, for Manorina melanotis, which is being genetically swamped by Yellow-throated Miner M. flavigula (and is included within that species by Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993). The opening up of the Murray mallee has favoured M. flavigula, and at the start of the 1990s there probably remained fewer than 20 pure individuals of M. melanotis (Garnett 1993).

Reduction of saltmarshes around Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, used during the winter by Neophema chrysogaster (see 'Restricted-range species', above) is another cause for concern (Garnett 1993), while introduced predators such as feral cats and foxes have been contributory in the decline of many other birds in the EBA, e.g. the threatened, but widespread, Malleefowl Leipoa ocellata (Vulnerable) which occurs in mallee and eucalypt woodland.

Other widespread threatened species present include Plains-wanderer Pedionomus torquatus, Glossy Black-cockatoo Calyptorhynchus lathami (nominate lathami in New South Wales and Victoria, halmaturinus on Kangaroo Island), Slender-billed Thornbill Acanthiza iredalei (race hedleyi has a fragmented distribution in north-west Victoria and south-east South Australia), Painted Honeyeater Grantiella picta (all Vulnerable) and Regent Honeyeater Xanthomyza phrygia (Endangered). Threatened subspecies identified by Garnett (1993) include the eastern form of Regent Parrot Polytelis anthopeplus anthopeplus, which is restricted to mallee and riparian woodlands, the south-eastern form of Red-tailed Black-cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne, Helmeted Honeyeater Lichenostomus melanops cassidix, which occurs in a small area east of Melbourne in southern Victoria and is the bird emblem for that state, and the South Australian subspecies of White's Thrush Zoothera dauma halmaturina from southern South Australia and Kangaroo Island.

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Endemic Bird Area factsheet: South-east Australia. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/eba/factsheet/185 on 22/11/2024.