• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2008	Near Threatened	A2b,c,d,e; A3c,d,e; A4c,d,e
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type	Australia	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,080,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	6700-67000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2003
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	11.53 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is estimated at under 100,000 individuals (S. Garnett in litt. 2003). Population loss in southern Australia occurred prior to the past three generation (35 years) period, and the population in the north of the country is now relatively stable. Trends in Indonesian and Papua New Guinea are unknown but birds here account for only a fraction of the global population, but combined with local declines in some parts of Australia due to invasive non-native mammals, pesticide use and hunting (Garnett and Crowley 2000, Ziembicki and Woinarski 2007, Collar and Garcia 2020), the species' population size is suspected to be slowly declining.

Trend justification: Population loss in southern Australia occurred prior to the past three generation (47 year) period, and the population in the north of the country is now relatively stable. Trends in Indonesian and Papua New Guinea are unknown but birds here account for only a fraction of the global population. The overall population trend is therefore suspected to be stable.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Australia	extant	native	yes
Indonesia	extant	native	yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Alligator Rivers Floodplains
Australia	Arafura Swamp
Australia	Boodjamulla
Australia	Broad Sound
Australia	Buckley River
Australia	Coongie Lakes
Australia	Diamantina and Astrebla Grasslands
Australia	Diamantina Floodplain
Australia	Fortescue Marshes
Australia	Gulf Plains
Australia	Lake Argyle
Australia	Lake Gregory/Paraku
Australia	Lake Machattie Area
Australia	Lake Sylvester System
Australia	Lake Yamma Yamma
Australia	Mandora Marsh and Anna Plains
Australia	Mornington Sanctuary
Australia	Ord Irrigation Area
Australia	Roebuck Bay
Australia	Simpson Desert
Australia	Staaten River

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Savanna	Dry	major	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 700 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Human intrusions & disturbance	Work & other activities	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Bos taurus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Ovis aries	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species disturbance, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Unspecified species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Vulpes vulpes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Trend Unknown/Unrecorded	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Australian Bustard Ardeotis australis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/australian-bustard-ardeotis-australis on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.