Grey Grasswren (Amytornis barbatus) - BirdLife species factsheet

Grey Grasswren Amytornis barbatus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

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.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2024	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Threatened

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	177,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	2.68 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be rare in Queensland and South Australia and vulnerable in New South Wales (Higgins et al. 2001). The nominate barbatus may number c.15,000 individuals. This population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat degradation (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

Trend justification: This population is suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat degradation (del Hoyo et al. 2007).

Country/territory distribution

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

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Bulloo Floodplain
Australia	Diamantina Floodplain
Australia	Goyder Lagoon
Australia	Lake Machattie Area

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	major	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	major	resident
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Grey Grasswren Amytornis barbatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/grey-grasswren-amytornis-barbatus 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.