Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
Reporting rates indicate recent rapid declines within the last ten years in response to habitat clearance and degradation. For this reason, it is assessed as Vulnerable.
Population justification
The population sizes here follow estimations made by Hodder et al. (2021), who applied densities recorded in 2-ha 20-minute surveys (2.72±SD 2.99; BirdLife Australia 2020) to three measures of AOO: the minimum is the number of 2x2 km squares with records since 1990, the best estimate is double this value to account for unsurveyed area, and the maximum is four times this. Within each 1 km2, four hectares of suitable habitat was assumed. While the actual area occupied may have been less than four hectares and densities higher than in the broader landscape, many areas with birds have undoubtedly not been surveyed. The population is therefore estimated at 68,000-272,000 mature individuals, with a best estimate of 136,000 (Hodder et al. 2021). However, the reliability of these estimates is considered low (S. Garnett in litt. 2021).
Trend justification
Although reporting rates were stable between BirdLife Australia Atlases (Barrett et al. 2002), Diamond Firetails are one of a suite of taxa considered to be declining in south-eastern Australia. Historical contractions in the range have been matched by declines around Adelaide (Paton et al. 1994) and in western New South Wales and northern Victoria (Reid 1999, Olsen et al. 2005) where reporting rates declined in parts of New South Wales that had been more intensively developed (Barrett et al. 2007). Recent trends in reporting rates across the range of the species are consistent with this: from 2000–2019, reporting rates from 2-ha 20-minute counts and 500-m area searches declined by 58% and 46%, respectively (2000–2009: 40% and 41%; 2010–2019: 35% and 7%). However, not all regional results are consistent. In the Mt Lofty Ranges, abundance in 151 2-ha plots monitored annually 2001–2016 declined by about 2% per year (see Hodder et al. 2021), equivalent to 19-20% over 10 years. In north-east New South Wales, reporting rates at 41 sites declined from 18% in 1977–1980 to 12% in 2004–2006 (Gosper and Gosper 2016) and 0% in 2020 (Hodder et al. 2021). However, there was no significant change in reporting rates from 2-ha 20-min surveys for 1999–2013 for the Brigalow Belt or South-east Mainland regions (BirdLife Australia 2015); there was a strongly significant increase of 10% p.a. in surveys during 2000–2015 at over 165 sites in southern New South Wales (Lindenmayer et al. 2018); and drought had no impact on reporting rates in central New South Wales (Ellis and Taylor 2014). Reporting rates in the Australian Capital Territory show a six-fold fluctuation, with peaks in 1987–1996 and 2006–2011 and a trough in 2000–2006 and a steady decline from 2011–2017 (Canberra Ornithologists Group 2020). Combining and evaluating these trends and analyses, Hodder et al. (2021) estimated a global rate of decline of 30-49% over the past three generations and, given no indication of stability or cessation of threats, this same rate is precautionarily suspected to occur into the future.
Diamond Firetails occur on the south-east mainland of Australia from south-east Queensland to Eyre Peninsula, South Australia and about 300 km inland from the sea (Higgins et al. 2007). Their range once extended to north Queensland inland from Cardwell but they now occur only in the very south of the state. They have disappeared from many of the more settled parts of New South Wales and Victoria, and birds in South Australia appear to have been separated into three isolated subpopulations (Eyre Peninsula, Mt Lofty to Southern Flinders Ranges, and the south-east) (Higgins et al. 2007) with few records from a fourth (Yorke Peninsula) in the last decade.
Diamond Firetails occur in eucalypt, acacia or casuarina woodlands, open forests and other lightly timbered habitats, including farmland and grassland with scattered trees (Higgins et al. 2007), where they prefer areas with relatively low tree density, few large logs and little litter cover but high grass cover (Antos et al. 2008). They feed largely on seeds of grasses (Higgins et al. 2007) but in the Mt Lofty Ranges will also rely on seeds of Drooping She-oak Allocasuarina verticillata in winter in areas where perennial grasses have been replaced by exotic annuals (Hodder 2019). They build bottle-shaped nests in shrubs or trees in which they lay 4–5 eggs (Higgins et al. 2007).
Clearance of native vegetation, which continues (EES 2019), is the underlying reason for the decline of the species. There is also widespread degradation of habitat that remains (Ford 2011) which has led to the replacement of native perennial grasses with exotic annual grasses, resulting in starvation of the firetails during periods when exotic annual grass seed germinates in autumn and winter if there are no alternative seed sources (Higgins et al. 2007, Hodder 2019). Habitat patches are also degraded by grazing stock, rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus and kangaroos Macropus spp. that remove the shrub layer (Barrett et al. 2002). Firetails are also more likely to persist in a matrix of sheep grazing, a land-use that has been declining (ABARES 2020), than where surrounding areas are grazed by cattle or sown to grain crops (Barrett et al. 2002). Factors that have been postulated to be adversely affecting this species in particular include the loss of key food plants and habitat as a result of invasion by exotic grasses more suitable for flock-foraging Red-browed Finch Neochmia temporalis, whose expansion in some areas may have disadvantaged S. guttata. In the north of the range, a change in fire and grazing regimes may have played an important part in the decline. Isolated subpopulations may be susceptible to illegal trapping.
Conservation Actions Underway
In 1997, legislation was introduced to prevent the large-scale clearing of habitat in New South Wales (H. Ford in litt. 2007). Some subpopulations persist in public and private protected areas. Listed as threatened under some appropriate legislation. Habitat restoration at many sites. Several research projects assessing ecological requirements.Conservation Actions Proposed
Determine why species is susceptible to fragmentation. Protect all occupied woodland from clearing, and monitor compliance biennially. Ensure that all subpopulations on public land are placed under secure conservation management. Within the species's range manage at least 15% of the pre-European woodland on public or private land for conservation, using incentives where necessary. Promote sound management of habitat by land-holders, using appropriate incentives. Promote retention of native grasslands, and encourage greater connectivity between sub-populations. Promote re-vegetation and land reclamation that recreates the species's habitat. Control firewood collection from areas occupied by the species, and reduce grazing densities where necessary. Carry out long-term monitoring of remnant sub-populations. Determine population densities and trends in a representative area across the range. Establish criteria for sites where management investment to save firetail populations is warranted. Develop techniques for restoring native perennial grasslands. Undertake experimental reintroductions within closely managed environments, including the provision of seed. Restore native perennial grasses and casuarinas to habitat fragments. Determine whether firetails require an active reintroduction to restored landscapes. Actively manage pest and pastoral grazing in occupied patches, including control of overabundant herbivores, and engage landholders to adopt appropriate grazing regimes. Secure and maintain appropriate management of occupied habitat patches from degradation and loss.
Text account compilers
Vine, J., Garnett, S., Berryman, A.
Contributors
Ford, H. & Garnett, S.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Diamond Firetail Stagonopleura guttata. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/diamond-firetail-stagonopleura-guttata 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.