• 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.
Christidis, L.; 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. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
del Hoyo, J.; Collar, N. J.; Christie, D. A.; Elliott, A.; Fishpool, L. D. C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2008	Near Threatened	A2b,c,d; A3b,c,d; A4b,c,d
2007	Near Threatened
2004	Near Threatened
2000	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type	Australia shelf island	Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	9,350,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	10000-15000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2010
Population trend	decreasing	poor	estimated	1993-2008
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	1-9%	-	-	-
Generation length	10.5 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The total Australian population has separately been estimated at 15,000 individuals, and to almost certainly exceed 10,000 mature individuals (Garnett et al. 2011). The population is therefore placed in the band 10,000-15,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification:

This widespread species declined historically in the southern parts of its range, primarily owing to the destruction and degradation of its preferred woodland habitat, predation by introduced foxes and interactions with habitat loss, however most of these declines occurred prior to the past three generations (32 years).  The species remains common in northern Australia, including in urban areas where there is no evidence of declines despite depredation from feral and domestic cats and dogs. It is therefore suspected to have undergone a slow overall population decline during the past three generations.

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	Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains
Australia	Alligator Rivers Floodplains
Australia	Anson Bay, Daly and Reynolds River Floodplains
Australia	Arnhem Plateau
Australia	Atherton Tablelands
Australia	Brisbane Water
Australia	Clarke Range
Australia	Cooloola and Fraser Coast
Australia	Fortescue Marshes
Australia	Gregory National Park
Australia	Kangaroo Island
Australia	Keep River
Australia	Mandora Marsh and Anna Plains
Australia	Morehead River
Australia	Moreton Bay and Pumicestone Passage
Australia	Mornington Sanctuary
Australia	Ord Irrigation Area
Australia	Prince Regent and Mitchell River
Australia	Puckapunyal
Australia	Riverland Mallee
Australia	Staaten River
Australia	Tiwi Islands
Australia	Yinberrie Hills

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Pastureland	suitable	resident
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	resident
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	suitable	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Agriculture & aquaculture	Annual & perennial non-timber crops - Agro-industry farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Agriculture & aquaculture	Livestock farming & ranching - Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Canis familiaris	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
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
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Bush Thick-knee Burhinus grallarius. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bush-thick-knee-burhinus-grallarius on 22/11/2024.
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 22/11/2024.