Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00199:reg:6:p3
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00199
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 6 (pt 3/17)
Character Range: 11750–14742

plumage is very similar to the adult male (Marchant and Higgins 1993).

1.4            Species distribution in Australia

   The Australian Painted Snipe is endemic to Australia. The species has a historical distribution through most of continent including some desert regions, but the Murray–Darling Basin, particularly the Riverina region of Victoria and New South Wales, appears to have been a stronghold for the species (Blakers et al. 1984) (Figure 1). Smaller historical and/or present concentrations include the Channel Country in Queensland and South Australia, the Capricornia coast of central Queensland, the Swan Coastal Plain and north-west of Western Australia and south-eastern South Australia (along with adjacent parts of Victoria) and increased observer effort has yielded an increase in records from Australia's savannah regions in recent decades (Knuckey et al. 2013; Leach et al. 1987; Lane and Rogers 2000; Rogers et al. 2005). Breeding records exist, many from the last two decades, across the range of occurrence including some from wetlands far beyond the Murray–Darling Basin (many records in coastal Queensland; some from the Lake Eyre Basin, Barkly Tableland and north-western Australia). The Australian Painted Snipe has also been recorded once in Tasmania (single specimen) and once in New Zealand (one confirmed and one possible record) (Marchant and Higgins 1993).

   Surveys in northern and arid inland parts of Australia have shown that the Australian Painted Snipe does occur and breed there (Hassell and Rogers 2002; Jaensch 2003; Jaensch et al. 2004) and there are many records including breeding and aggregations, from coastal Queensland. It is evident that these parts of the continent have always been occupied, however infrequently, by the Australian Painted Snipe and may be more important than currently recognised because of relatively few surveys as the Murray–Darling Basin offers less reliable habitat. There is some evidence of seasonal 'migration' between south-eastern Australia and regions to the north (Black et al. 2010), which would place higher importance on conservation of inhabited wetlands in all regions of the species' range.

   The patterns of present-day distribution are not fully understood and in some respects, this may be due to many of the same reasons given for unreliable population estimate data. Analysis by Rogers et al. (2005) of all (35) breeding site records since 1884 revealed that breeding had taken place in all mainland states and the Northern Territory. However, if the period from 1995–2005 is examined, then known breeding occurred only in Western Australia (one site record), Queensland (three site records), and Victoria (one site record). These examples illustrate the patchy recording of the species and consequent lack of knowledge regarding distribution and movements on a continental scale. Furthermore, large areas of inland and remote Australia are rarely if ever visited by ornithologists and