• 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., Fishpool, L.D.C., Boesman, P. and Kirwan, G.M. 2016. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 2: Passerines. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)
2012	Near Threatened	B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Near Threatened

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	15,700 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	5000-61000, 47000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2020
Population trend	stable	-	inferred	-
Generation length	3.3 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population of A. housei is estimated from the average size of two territories at Artesian Range (6.6 and 12.9 ha; Clarke 2014) and suspected AOO values (spanning extremes of 230 km² and 3,000 km²) from Clarke et al. (2021). Elsewhere, they have also been reported to be moderately common to common (e.g. 16 pairs counted in a 2-km transect along a creek in sand-stone near Mertens Falls; Johnstone and Storr 2004).

Trend justification: Unlike other tropical grasswrens, and contrary to Garnett et al. (2011), a decline is not assumed after Clarke (2014) found no relationship between fire history and abundance and considered the species well-protected by its exceptionally rocky habitat. Territories studied in 2013 were still occupied in 2020 (J. Clarke unpublished). Consequently, the population is assumed to be stable, but may be subject to moderate fluctuations in response to fire.

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Prince Regent and Mitchell River

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Altitude	0 - 400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success

---

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Black Grasswren Amytornis housei. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-grasswren-amytornis-housei on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.