• 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
-	B2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v); C2a(i)	B1ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v)+2ab(i,ii,iii,iv,v); C2a(i); D1

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Endangered	C2a(i)
2016	Vulnerable	B1ab(ii,iii,iv,v)
2012	Vulnerable	B1ab(ii,iii,iv,v)
2008	Vulnerable	B1a+b(ii,iii,iv,v)
2006	Vulnerable
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Near Threatened

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

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	16,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	80 km2
Number of locations	11-100	-
Severely fragmented?	yes	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	900-2000, 1100 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2020
Population trend	decreasing	medium	inferred	-
Generation length	3.2 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	10-99	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: Based on population densities at eight sites, Noske (1992) estimated the population at 50,000 individuals (14,000–182,000), while Woinarski (1992) estimated a much lower total of 5,000–10,000 individuals. Given the fire history of the species's range (it is dependent on large unburnt spinifex patches), Garnett et al. (2010) thought the population had declined to no more than 10,000 mature individuals; these estimations of distribution and abundance based on fire history afterwards proved accurate (Woinarski et al. 2012, NESP TSRH 2019). Based on more recent surveys and an evaluation of fire patterns, the population is re-estimated at 900-2,000 mature individuals (Einoder et al. 2021), with a best estimate of 1,100 following NESP TSRH (2019). Fire is thought to have substantially fragmented the range with what was once a formerly panmictic population now probably divided into more than 10 subpopulations, each with no more than 100 mature individuals (Einoder et al. 2021).

Trend justification:

The species is inferred to be declining based on declining reporting rates, although there are some uncertainties with the trend. In Birdata (BirdLife Australia 2020), there were 24 records from 2000–2009 and three from 2010–2019. Of all complete eBird checklists (eBird 2021) from accessible suitable habitat in western Arnhem Land, 24% of the 80 before 2000 included the species, but only 18% of 89 for 2000–2009 and 3.3% of 271 for 2010–2019 (Einoder et al. 2021). In Kakadu, numbers in systematic replicated surveys at the same locations declined from a mean of 0.08 individuals/quadrat in 2001–2004 (recorded in 6/142 quadrats) to zero in 2010, although subsequent targeted searches in 2011 found 30 birds at 11 sites at 4/16 locations searched (93 hours, 139 km, Mahney et al. 2011). In Djelk IPA, no birds were found in the vicinity of a 1996 record; while one female Elder at Kolorbidadah outstation recognised the bird but had not seen it for at least 20 years. No one spending time in the rock country camping, hunting and fishing recognised the bird at all and birdwatchers now see the bird only rarely. The primary threat to this species is large-scale and frequent fire which is likely to be exacerbated by ongoing climate change (Garnett et al. 2013, Einoder et al. 2021).

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

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Australia	Arnhem Plateau

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Dry	major	resident
Rocky areas (eg. inland cliffs, mountain peaks)		major	resident
Altitude	100 - 400 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Climate change & severe weather	Other impacts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Fire & fire suppression - Increase in fire frequency/intensity	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: White-throated Grasswren Amytornis woodwardi. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/white-throated-grasswren-amytornis-woodwardi 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.