Conservationists fear that without a recovery
plan, the Tasmanian azure kingfisher could goextinct
ABC Online
By Evan Wallace
Posted Sat 7 Oct 2023

On the banks of the Leven River in Tasmania's north-Photo Supplied: Adam Hardy

west, Dean Hohn is searching for the blue sparkle of the endangered Tasmanian azure
kingfisher.
"Each and every time we see them it's a wonderful experience," Mr Hohn said.
"You would think with royal blue and orange that they would stand out, but they blend
in … it's exhilarating, heart pumping."
Over the past three years, Mr Hohn has fallen in love with the elusive bird, notching up
more than 50 bird-watching cruises on the Leven.
During that time, he has grown increasingly concerned that not enough is being done toprotect the bird's habitat and support its tiny population.
"The environment here … it's beautiful, it needs to be protected, and it needs to belooked after," he said.
Endangered, but no plan for recovery
he plight of the Tasmanian azure kingfisher, a subspecies of those found on theAustralian mainland, has been on government radars for more than two decades.
In 2001, the Tasmanian government listed the kingfisher as endangered, largely becauseof its low population numbers.
Nine years later, the federal government followed suit, and the bird is one of 58 criticallyendangered or endangered birds listed under the Environment Protection andBiodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
It is estimated there are only 250-400 mature birds in the wild, limited to small numbers
at select locations. Despite its low numbers, there is no recovery plan for the kingfisher.
It is one of 14 birds classified as endangered or critically endangered that does not havea state or national recovery plan.
In 2012, the Tasmanian government received seven recommendations to "reduce theextinction risk" of the species.

The recommendations included population monitoring, habitat protection, investigating acaptive population, and community consultation to provide information on the
kingfisher's significance and habitat.
To date, direct responses to support the population health of the Tasmanian azure
kingfisher have been limited, with no empirical studies carried out to assess population
numbers, and conservation efforts appearing limited to broader habitat-protection
initiatives.
'On the edge of survival'
Ornithologist and wildlife consultant Mark Holdsworth is desperate to change theTasmanian azure kingfisher's status as one of the state's most under-studied birds.
"They're right on the edge of survival," Mr Holdsworth said.
"We need to focus, put some more effort into surveying the key habitats and finding out
where they exist and what the population is, and from there understand better what therisks are.""We simply don't have enough resources to produce recovery plans … for a wealthy
nation we're not doing nearly enough.""If we don't have something like a recovery plan to guide us, we're just wandering
around in the dark, grasping at solutions willy-nilly," he said.
"Unfortunately, the Tasmanian azure kingfisher is really at the back of the queue. And it
is a queue that's lengthening every year."
Mr Dooley is also calling for environment laws — including the EPBC Act — to bestrengthened, so that when a bird is listed as threatened, the proper protections areenforced.
"We really need much, much stronger, effective nature laws at a federal level that canactually have an impact across local areas where there are populations in crisis," he said.
"It probably shouldn't matter that it is such a dazzlingly beautiful creature but … if wecan't get it together to protect those sorts of creatures, what hope have we for the restof the environment?"
Monitoring required for complete picture
There are early indications that the Tasmanian azure kingfisher's population may havestabilised.
With some evidence to suggest that the birds are mostly contained to protectedwilderness areas, and that it may be present in more locations than previously thought,
the bird's population health is being constantly assessed.

For instance, in contrast to state and federal classifications, the birds are listed asvulnerable in the not-for-profit Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020.
However, the Action Plan also noted that there had been "no targeted monitoring acrossthe range of the subspecies", and that monitoring was "too scarce for opportunistic
observations to indicate trends".
In a statement, a spokesperson for Tasmanian Natural Resources and Environment
Department said that "conservation management of threatened species is a collective
responsibility involving government, the community, researchers, non-governmentorganisations and industry".
They also said the bird was "identified as a species where additional information onabundance and distribution is required".
The federal government's Threatened Species Commissioner was contacted forcomment.