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

Justification of Red List category
This species has a very large range and a population size thought to exceed 10,000 mature individuals. Although previously thought to be in decline, recent reporting rates throughout its range indicate it is in fact stable. For these reasons it is assessed as Least Concern.

Population justification
There is much uncertainty around the population size. The estimate used here is the product of three AOO measures (spanning 1,500-3,000 km²) from Watson et al. (2021), the smallest being the number of 2x2 km squares for which there are records in summer (December-February), the largest being an arbitrary doubling of this value to account for incomplete survey effort of potentially suitable habitat. The density applied to this area is that originating from 2-ha 20-minute surveys (1.96 ± SD 1.49; BirdLife Australia 2020) and an assumed occupancy of 5–10% given the fragmented habitat. While this may be generous, because Painted Honeyeaters are often recorded along roadsides or in other small fragments, and occupancy can vary from year to year, they can also occur at high densities (up to 10 detected at a single point in the breeding season; Oliver et al. 2003) and on largely inaccessible private land away from roadsides and rarely included in bird surveys.

Trend justification
While there are historical records of decline in western New South Wales (Maher 1988, Smith et al. 1995) and Victoria (Brindley 1991), reporting rates from 1999–2018, including the last decade, show no trend for either 2-ha 20-min surveys or 500-m radius area searches (BirdLife Australia 2020). Similarly, the eBird reporting rate (the number of checklists on which the species was reported on in a year) showed minimal change between January 2000 and May 2020 (C. Callaghan unpublished, in Watson et al. [2021], using eBird [2021]). In the absence of additional data to suggest otherwise, the population is therefore inferred to be stable.

Painted Honeyeaters are migratory based on seasonal variation in occurrence. They breed on the inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range, Australia, south-east of an almost straight line from Chinchilla in Queensland to the Grampians in Victoria (Higgins et al. 2001). After the spring-summer breeding season, there are a few records in the breeding range with most being from north-western Queensland south of the Gulf of Carpentaria and in the north-eastern Northern Territory south of the Roper River. The movement north starts in March and most birds return to the breeding range from September to November, passing through eastern South Australia on the way south, but not on the way north (Higgins et al. 2001, BirdLife Australia 2020, eBird 2021).

The species is among the most specialised of Australia’s honeyeaters, being largely dependent on mistletoe fruits, although during the breeding season arthropods are also important (Barea 2008a, 2009, Barea and Herrera 2009). The species lives in dry forests and woodlands dominated by Acacias. During breeding it requires berries from predominantly two species, needle-leaved mistletoe Amyema cambagei and grey mistletoe A. quandang, which grow on nitrogen-fixing hosts such as Acacias and Casuarinas (D. Watson in litt. 2007, Barea 2008a). The species has also been seen breeding in Victoria where Amyema pendula is the dominant mistletoe species on Eucalypt hosts (L. Barea in litt. 2016). It also feeds on nectar and arthropods (the main type of arthropods fed to nestlings have been observed to be orb-weaving spiders) (D. Watson in litt. 2007, Barea 2008a). Recent evidence suggests that mistletoe nectar is an important food resource in the breeding season or when the birds are moving through sub-optimal habitat (D. Watson in litt. 2007, Barea 2008a), especially when fruit is scarce, prior to peak fruiting period, and may influence habitat choice (Oliver et al. 2003). Thus, its breeding distribution is influenced by the presence of mistletoes and the seasonality of mistletoe fruiting; a positive relationship has been observed between the abundance of mistletoes per tree and per unit area and the presence of this species (Oliver et al. 2003, Barea 2008b, 2012). It prefers woodland areas that contain a higher number of mature trees, as these host more mistletoes (Oliver et al. 2003) and selects nesting habitat and nest trees based on mistletoe abundance (Barea 2008b, 2012). They also prefer wider blocks rather than strips of woodland, although they breed in quite narrow roadside strips if ample mistletoe fruit is available (D. Watson in litt. 2007, Barea 2008a). They have been recorded in Brigalow Acacia harpophylla and other woodlands on parts of the northern floodplains region of New South Wales, possibly using this area because the habitat there has been less cleared and fragmented than other parts of the species' range (Oliver et al. 2003) as well as Yarran Acacia homalophylla in west New South Wales (Barea 2008a).

Large areas of brigalow and other suitable habitats have been cleared in the last 40 years and active habitat clearance continues, particularly in New South Wales (NSW DPIE 2020) and Queensland, although it is slower than in the 1980s and 1990s (Neldner et al. 2017). Much of the remaining habitat is on private land and continues to be degraded by over-grazing by livestock, goats Capra hircus, native macropods Macropus spp. and rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. Over-grazing also prevents regeneration (Oliver et al. 2003). Other suggested threats include competition with aggressive Noisy Miners Manorina melanocephala, deliberate destruction of the mistletoe on which they rely on private land and in production forests, pasture improvement accelerating tree decline, and effects of drought on mistletoe and host trees (NSW OEH 2020), with the frequency and severity of drought likely to increase (Evans et al. 2017).

Conservation Actions Underway
Legislation to prevent the large-scale clearing of woodlands in New South Wales was introduced in 1997 (H. Ford in litt. 2007). The ecology of the species has been well studied during a PhD thesis (Barea 2008a).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Carry out studies into site fidelity and patterns of movement, and acquire a better understanding of its ecology during the non-breeding season. Carry out long-term monitoring. Research the importance of Brigalow and other semi-arid woodlands, and protect as appropriate (Oliver et al. 2003). Further research on nest predation given high reported rates of failure (Barea and Watson 2013).
Protect occupied woodland from clearing and monitor compliance biennially. Secure all populations found on public land through conservation management, and use incentives to encourage private land owners to carry out beneficial management. Within the species' range manage woodlands on public or private land maintaining a diverse woodland community with mature trees and adequate mistletoe populations (Barea 2008b). Control firewood collection from occupied areas and reduce grazing densities to ensure adequate mistletoe host tree recruitment.

Text account compilers
Vine, J., Garnett, S., Berryman, A.

Contributors
Baker, B., Barea, L., Burbidge, A., Dutson, G., Ford, H., Garnett, S., Holmes, T., Loyn, R.H., Menkhorst, P., O'Connor, J., Watson, D. & Woinarski, J.C.Z.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Painted Honeyeater Grantiella picta. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/painted-honeyeater-grantiella-picta on 18/12/2024.
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 18/12/2024.