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Southern Emuwren (Stipiturus malachurus)

The Eyre Peninsula southern emu-wren, Stipiturus malachurus parimeda, is a very small, insectivorous bird restricted to low, dense vegetation at the southern tip of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It is listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act, and is sensitive to clearing, fire, grazing, hydrology change and loss of connections between habitat patches on development sites.

Conservation status

Commonwealth, EPBC Act 1999: Endangered.

Queensland, Nature Conservation Act 1992: Vulnerable.

South Australia, National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972: Endangered.

Western Australia, Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016: Vulnerable.

Breeding season

The seasonal pattern below is based mainly on southern emu-wren biology and information inferred from other subspecies. The Eyre Peninsula subspecies is generally sedentary, so there is no known regular migration period.

Retaining habitat year round is required because the species is sedentary, habitat patches are isolated and recolonisation after local extinction is limited.

  • Breeding: Breeding, nesting and rearing can occur from August to March. Most young hatch from September to December.
  • Young: Nestlings remain for about two weeks, fledged young stay in dense cryptic cover for up to two weeks, and young become independent at about three months.
  • Movement and dispersal: The subspecies is generally sedentary. Dispersal is poorly known and is expected to be limited by poor flight ability, dense-cover dependence and cleared land between patches.
  • Highest clearing risk: Clearing can damage habitat in any month, but disturbance from August to March has the added risk of affecting nests, nestlings, fledged young and breeding adults. September to December is the peak hatching period.

Identification

This is a tiny, secretive bird that usually stays within dense vegetation. It is often detected by its fine, high-pitched call before it is seen.

Adults are 17 to 19 cm long, but much of this length is the 11 to 13 cm tail. The wings are short and rounded. The upperparts are pale olive-grey or brown-grey with darker streaking on the head, neck and back. The underparts are pale yellowish brown or tawny, with a white belly. The bill is black, the iris is dark brown, and the legs and feet are brownish.

Body mass: 5 to 9 g

Tail: Six long, emu-like feathers

Identification: Sex differences and similar species

Adult males have a rufous forehead and forecrown, a pale blue to sky-blue chin, throat and upper breast, and a blue stripe above the eye. Females lack the blue areas and are olive-grey or brown-grey on the forehead, with yellow-brown or tawny throat and eye-stripe colouration.

Within the restricted Eyre Peninsula range, the bird is distinctive. It can be confused with other small Maluridae only where their ranges overlap. The related Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island southern emu-wren subspecies have similar structure and behaviour, while the mallee emu-wren and rufous-crowned emu-wren are separate species. Juvenile and immature plumages of the Eyre Peninsula subspecies have not been described.

Identification: Calls, nests and field signs

The species is shy, secretive and difficult to flush from dense cover. It has a very high-pitched, soft trill, with louder and harsher buzzing calls reported for emu-wrens generally. Calm conditions and good hearing improve the chance of call detection.

The domed nest is made mainly from loosely woven fine-leaved grasses and sedges. It is usually about 0.3 m above the ground, or sometimes close to water, within dense vegetation. Tracks and scats are not described as reliable survey signs for this bird. Do not rely on ground signs or nest absence when assessing habitat.

  • Use early morning area searches or transects in suitable dense vegetation.
  • Record calls, sightings and the precise vegetation structure where the bird is detected.
  • Treat a small, domed nest in dense sedges or low shrubbery as a possible emu-wren nest and protect it from disturbance until assessed by an appropriately qualified person.

Distribution: Range and state context

The profile taxon is restricted to southern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. The broader southern emu-wren species occurs in several parts of southern Australia, but records from other states should not be assumed to represent the Eyre Peninsula subspecies.

Stipiturus malachurus parimeda is known from southern Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The supplied conservation advice identifies 11 sites, all considered likely to be isolated. The source documents do not assign these sites to IBRA bioregions.

The broader southern emu-wren species occurs in coastal regions of southern Australia. The recognised subspecies include forms in South Australia, south-eastern Queensland, Tasmania, south-western Western Australia and Dirk Hartog Island. The supplied Queensland and Western Australia listings therefore relate to state-level listing information for the broader taxon or its regional forms, not to the known range of the Eyre Peninsula subspecies.

Known range of the profile taxon: Southern tip of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia

Known sites: 11 sites, all likely to be isolated

Land tenure of known sites: 68% nature conservation areas, 19% private property, 10% roadsides and 3% SA Water reserves

Distribution: Important subpopulations

All identified subpopulations should be treated as important. The conservation advice identifies Marble Range, Kellidie Bay to Wanilla, Shoal Point to D'Anville Bay to Whalers Way to Fishery Bay, Carcass Point to McLaren Point to Point Haselgrove to Taylors Landing, and West Point to Jussieu Bay as particularly important for long-term survival and recovery.

These areas include likely source populations for dispersal within Marble Range, the Cummins to Wanilla Basin, Coffin Bay National Park, the Sleaford and Uley Basin district, Lincoln National Park and Memory Cove Wilderness Protection Area.

  • Check proposed works against all known sites, including private land, road reserves and water reserves.
  • Retain vegetated connections around and between occupied patches, not only the patch where a bird is found.

Distribution: Population size and trend

The subspecies is severely fragmented. Cleared land separates the known sites, and the bird is considered to have little genetic exchange between them because it is largely sedentary and a poor disperser. Historical decline is associated mainly with agricultural clearance, with large fires also contributing.

Population estimates are old and updated range-wide surveys are needed. The conservation advice estimates about 750 mature individuals, with each subpopulation below 250 individuals. The largest subpopulation is reported as about 150 mature individuals.

Estimated mature individuals: About 750

Estimated size of each subpopulation: Fewer than 250 mature individuals

Largest reported subpopulation: About 150 mature individuals

Estimated area of occupancy: 264 km² in the 2023 conservation advice

Trend: Continuing decline is observed or inferred in habitat area and quality, number of subpopulations and mature individuals

Habitat: Habitat types

The species selects habitat primarily by vegetation structure rather than by plant species. Suitable habitat usually has one or two low, dense layers that provide cover and support insect prey.

Recorded habitats on Eyre Peninsula include wet and dry shrubland or heathland, mallee and sedgeland. The broader southern emu-wren group also uses shrub thickets, woodland and forest where dense low vegetation is present.

Shrubland may include mallee honey-myrtle, totem poles, dryland tea-tree, coast beard-heath, sea box, coast velvet bush, acacias, eucalypts, sheoaks, bristly bush-pea and grasstrees. Mallee may include coastal white mallee and ridge-fruited mallee over dense heathy shrubs and sedges.

  • Treat low, dense native vegetation as potential habitat even when the plant community is not one of the named examples.
  • Assess the structure of the understorey, including density and continuity, rather than relying only on dominant tree species.

Habitat: Structural features

Dense vegetation is used for shelter and is associated with higher insect abundance. At Whalers Way, occupied vegetation averaged about 500 mm high and was sometimes sparse, with 10% to 15% cover of very low coastal white mallee. No records were observed where average vegetation height exceeded 1.5 m in that study.

Sedgeland is generally associated with seasonal coastal swamps. It may be dominated by coast saw-sedge with a dense understorey of bare twig-rush or other sedges and rushes.

Recorded average vegetation height at Whalers Way: About 500 mm

Vegetation height at which no records were observed in that study: More than 1.5 m average height

Recorded low cover at Whalers Way: 10% to 15% coastal white mallee cover

  • Map and retain dense ground and shrub layers, including narrow strips that may function as movement links.
  • Include apparently sparse low mallee in habitat assessments where a dense shrub or sedge layer remains.
  • Do not exclude habitat solely because it is below or above a preferred plant height from another site.

Habitat: Climate and elevation

The supplied documents describe coastal and near-coastal shrubland, mallee and seasonal swamp habitats but do not provide an elevation limit for this subspecies. They identify the lower Eyre Peninsula as an area where Phytophthora cinnamomi may be a potential threat because annual rainfall can exceed 400 mm.

Climate change is expected to increase exposure to drought, heatwaves and extreme fire weather. Small, isolated subpopulations are especially exposed to localised extreme events.

Foraging habitat: Diet and prey

Southern emu-wrens feed almost entirely on small invertebrates and search systematically through dense low vegetation. Habitat with high insect abundance is therefore important even when no bird is detected during a short survey.

Recorded prey includes seed and chinch bugs, psyllids, katydids, beetles including weevils, insect eggs and wasp cocoons. Other insects and spiders may also be taken.

Prey abundance varies between habitat types. Tall shrubland, closed heathland and sedge or rushland can support high prey abundance, although nesting and fledging success may vary with predator density.

Main food: Insects

Recorded prey groups: Hemiptera, including Nysius and psyllids, Orthoptera, Coleoptera, insect eggs and wasp cocoons

Foraging habitat: Foraging method and habitat

Birds forage around and up through shrubs to the top, then move to the next shrub. They may also take flying insects. Dense vegetation provides both foraging surfaces and protection from predators.

The supplied documents do not provide a measured foraging-range size for the Eyre Peninsula subspecies. Breeding pairs generally occupy about 1 hectare of good quality habitat, with little overlap between neighbouring pairs, but this is a territory estimate rather than a separate foraging-range measurement.

Breeding territory in good habitat: Usually about 1 hectare per pair

Recorded movement between connected sites in another southern emu-wren subspecies: Up to 2.5 km

  • Retain connected shrub, heath and sedge cover around records, not just the exact point of detection.
  • Avoid creating open gaps through dense vegetation, as the species is a poor flyer and is presumed to disperse poorly across open ground.
  • Maintain insect-producing native vegetation and avoid weed or grazing impacts that simplify the understorey.

Breeding habitat: Breeding biology

Breeding occurs in dense low vegetation, often close to the ground or water. Nesting birds and newly fledged young can remain hidden in cover and may be missed during routine searches.

Southern emu-wrens are monogamous pair breeders. They usually produce one brood and sometimes two. Both parents feed the young, while the female incubates the eggs and broods the nestlings.

The breeding information is drawn partly from other southern emu-wren subspecies, because published information for the Eyre Peninsula subspecies is limited.

Breeding season: Early August to late March

Peak hatching period: September to December

Usual clutch size: Three eggs

Egg laying: Eggs are usually laid on successive days

Incubation: About 10 to 20 days

Nestling period: About two weeks

Age at independence: About three months

Age at first breeding: The breeding season after hatching

Estimated generation length: 2.1 years

Lifespan: Not stated in the supplied documents

Breeding habitat: Nest habitat

The nest is a domed structure made mainly from loosely woven fine-leaved grasses and sedges. It is usually around 0.3 m above the ground, and may sometimes be near water, in dense vegetation.

Suitable breeding habitat includes dense heath, shrubland and sedgeland with continuous low cover. Swamp and sedge habitats may be particularly sensitive to grazing, trampling and hydrology change.

  • Search dense vegetation carefully before clearing or construction, especially from August to March.
  • Establish a no-entry buffer around any active nest or dependent young in accordance with the direction of the fauna spotter catcher and relevant approval conditions.
  • Retain adjacent unburnt and connected cover because fledged young can remain in cryptic dense vegetation for up to two weeks after leaving the nest.

Sheltering habitat: Cover and refuge

The species depends on dense low cover rather than tree hollows, caves or burrows. It uses this cover for concealment, roosting, nesting and movement through the site.

Dense shrub, heath, sedge and rush layers provide shelter from weather and predators. The species is a weak flyer with short rounded wings and a long tail, and is presumed to have poor dispersal ability across open ground.

Young remain in highly cryptic dense cover for up to two weeks after fledging, until they are better able to fly and forage. Unburnt pockets within or beside recently burnt areas may provide temporary refuge.

Nest height: Usually around 0.3 m above ground

Post-fledging concealment: Up to two weeks in dense cover

Recorded movement between connected sites in another subspecies: Up to 2.5 km

  • Retain dense vegetation around occupied patches and along connecting strips.
  • Protect unburnt habitat beside recently burnt areas from additional clearing, planned burning and other disturbance until surrounding vegetation has recovered.
  • Do not assume that a cleared margin is unused habitat, as it may separate shelter patches and prevent movement.

Sheltering habitat: Roosts and other signs

The supplied documents do not describe separate roost structures, tree hollows, dens, burrows, tracks, scats, sloughs or eyeshine as useful field signs. The main refuge feature to assess is continuous dense vegetation near ground level.

The nest is the principal structure described for the species. It is domed, made from fine grasses and sedges, and generally positioned low in dense cover.

  • Use vegetation density, continuity and recent fire history as primary refuge indicators.
  • Inspect sedges, rushes and low shrubs for nests before access, mowing, slashing or clearing.
  • Record unburnt vegetation islands within recently burnt areas as potential refuges.

Threats: Clearing and fragmentation

The main project risks are removal or degradation of dense low vegetation and further separation of small subpopulations. Impacts can occur even where only a small area is cleared, because the subspecies has a restricted range and limited dispersal ability.

Clearing for agriculture, infrastructure, mining, exploration and other development has reduced and fragmented the former range. All known subpopulations should be treated as important. Removing habitat can reduce the area occupied by the subspecies and interfere with recovery.

Cleared land isolates sites, limits recolonisation after local extinction and increases the risk of demographic and genetic decline in small populations. Habitat assessments must include potential habitat based on structure, not only mapped vegetation communities.

  • Avoid clearing all known sites, suitable dense shrubland, mallee and sedgeland, and the surrounding matrix that provides movement links.
  • Assess cumulative effects with existing and proposed works, rather than considering each clearing area in isolation.
  • Retain connections between patches and avoid creating new gaps through occupied or potential habitat.

Threats: Fire

Wildfire can kill birds and remove the dense vegetation required for shelter and foraging. Large fires in 2005 removed habitat at five or six sites and were associated with local extinction of the Koppio Hills subpopulation. Excessively intense or frequent prescribed fire may also make habitat unsuitable for long periods.

Extreme fire weather, drought and heatwaves are expected to increase under climate change. Recovery and recolonisation may depend on nearby unburnt occupied habitat or adequately connected habitat.

  • Keep firebreaks, access routes and construction activities from dividing remaining dense habitat where practicable.
  • Protect unburnt habitat within or beside recently burnt areas from additional disturbance.
  • Plan fire response and fuel management with the ecological need for dense low vegetation in mind.

Threats: Grazing, hydrology, weeds and disease

Livestock grazing and trampling can degrade vegetation, affect habitat structure and damage nests, particularly in swamp habitat. Water extraction and swamp drainage can lower water tables, alter vegetation and reduce the quality of seasonal swamp habitat.

Weeds can change vegetation structure and resource availability. Buffel grass may also increase fire risk. Phytophthora cinnamomi is a suspected potential threat in higher rainfall parts of the range because it can kill habitat plants and alter vegetation structure.

  • Fence or otherwise exclude livestock from sensitive swamp and dense understorey habitat where required.
  • Avoid drainage, altered water flow and extraction that could reduce seasonal swamp condition.
  • Manage vehicle hygiene and access controls where Phytophthora cinnamomi is a risk.
  • Control invasive weeds without removing the dense native cover used by the species.

Threats: Predators and construction disturbance

Cats and foxes are considered potential minor threats, while small nest predators such as black rats may pose a greater risk because nests are close to the ground. Predation effects may increase after fire or when habitat has been degraded.

Noise and artificial light from industrial construction and operations are emerging local threats. Potential effects include altered foraging and reproductive behaviour, increased predation risk, avoidance, stress and reduced ability to hear mates or predators.

  • Limit night lighting spill into occupied or potential dense habitat.
  • Keep construction traffic, machinery and personnel out of retained habitat and nest buffers.
  • Review predator control needs after fire or substantial habitat disturbance.

Survey methodology: 1. Area searches and transects

Survey this species in suitable low, dense vegetation on and near the proposed disturbance area. The Eyre Peninsula subspecies is secretive, usually sedentary and difficult to detect, so use repeated searches, call detection and, where appropriate, playback rather than relying on a single visit.

Search suitable shrubland, mallee, sedgeland, heath and swamp vegetation early in the day, when conditions are calm and birds are more likely to call.

Use sightings and calls as the primary detection methods, and move slowly through dense cover because the birds are difficult to flush.

For areas smaller than 50 ha, use at least 10 hours of area searches or transect surveys over 5 days.

Record the search area, transect route, start and finish times, weather, vegetation structure, calls heard, birds seen and the locations of all detections.

Recommended effort: 10 hours over 5 days for area searches or transect surveys in areas less than 50 ha

Best survey period: Early in the day; spring to summer is the probable breeding period

Survey methodology: 2. Broadcast surveys

Use broadcast surveys in suitable dense habitat, particularly before and during the breeding season, when birds are more likely to respond.

Use calm conditions and good hearing conditions because the call is feeble and detection can be difficult.

For areas smaller than 50 ha, use at least 6 hours of broadcast surveys over 3 days.

Record the playback location, timing, call sequence, response time, direction of response and whether the response was confirmed by sighting.

Recommended effort: 6 hours over 3 days for broadcast surveys in areas less than 50 ha

Detection note: The species responds to playback, but call detection requires good hearing and calm conditions

Survey methodology: 3. Low mist-netting

Use mist-netting only where an authorised and experienced bird bander considers it necessary, and set nets low in dense, heathy habitat.

Use the recommended effort of 12 hours over 4 days for areas smaller than 50 ha where mist-netting is required.

Undertake net checks and bird handling under the relevant animal ethics, wildlife permit and project procedures, and stop if heat, wind or bird welfare conditions become unsuitable.

Do not use mist-netting as a substitute for habitat searches or call surveys.

Recommended effort: 12 hours over 4 days for mist-netting in areas less than 50 ha

Placement: Low nets in dense, heathy habitat

Survey methodology: Minimum effort and reporting

  • Survey all potential habitat within the disturbance footprint and suitable connected habitat that could be affected by access, drainage, fire or indirect disturbance.
  • Repeat surveys where fire, drought, dense vegetation or poor weather is likely to reduce detection.
  • Map all detections, occupied habitat, potential habitat, dense vegetation corridors and areas affected by the proposed works.
  • Report records, including zero detections and survey effort, to the relevant state wildlife database and provide the records to the project environmental officer.
  • Retain photographs, GPS tracks, call recordings where available, weather data, observer qualifications and any permit details with the project file.
  • Treat an unconfirmed call as a potential detection until an appropriately qualified ecologist has reviewed the record.

Before habitat disturbance: Avoid and minimise

The priority before works is to retain dense, low vegetation and the connections between habitat patches. This subspecies occurs at isolated sites, has limited dispersal ability and may not recolonise areas after local extinction.

  • Avoid clearing known sites and all suitable shrubland, mallee, sedgeland, heath and swamp habitat wherever practicable.
  • Retain dense vegetation layers near ground level because the species uses structural habitat for shelter, foraging and nesting.
  • Retain unburnt habitat within or beside recently burnt areas as refuge until the burnt habitat has recovered sufficiently to support the birds again.
  • Maintain vegetation corridors and the surrounding matrix between habitat patches, including where the corridor is outside the immediate clearing footprint.
  • Avoid actions that drain swamps, lower water tables, increase grazing pressure or otherwise alter the structure of wet habitat.
  • Design access tracks, compounds, stockpiles, drainage and lighting to avoid known sites and reduce indirect disturbance.

Before habitat disturbance: Approvals and work planning

Breeding and nesting period: August to March, with most young hatching from September to December

Breeding territory: A pair usually occupies about 1 hectare of good quality habitat

Nest location: Domed nests are usually about 0.3 m above the ground or sometimes near water in dense vegetation

  • Confirm the current EPBC Act status and obtain project advice on whether referral or approval is required before disturbing potential or occupied habitat.
  • Confirm current South Australian, Queensland or Western Australian wildlife listings and obtain any required state permits, approvals and fauna handling authorities.
  • Prepare a fauna management plan that identifies known sites, potential habitat, buffers, survey results, stop-work triggers, fauna handling arrangements and reporting responsibilities.
  • Plan clearing outside the main breeding period of August to March where practicable, noting that nesting and rearing can occur throughout that period and most young hatch from September to December.
  • Stage works so that retained habitat remains connected and available while clearing proceeds, and avoid isolating birds in small vegetation remnants.
  • Give fire, clearing, construction, lighting, drainage and rehabilitation contractors maps and written instructions before mobilisation.

Before habitat disturbance: Pre-clearance preparation

  • Complete a targeted pre-clearance survey of all potential habitat, including dense vegetation that does not match a named plant community but has suitable structure.
  • Mark known and potential habitat, retained corridors, swamp margins, nest locations and no-go areas on construction drawings and on the ground.
  • Use exclusion fencing or other visible controls where these can protect retained dense habitat from machinery, vehicles, storage, trampling and grazing.
  • Inspect dense ground cover carefully for nests and dependent young before each clearing stage.
  • Brief fauna spotter catchers, machine operators and supervisors on the species' small size, cryptic behaviour, weak flight and preference for dense cover.
  • Confirm an accessible nearby area of retained, suitable habitat before clearing starts, but do not move birds unless the authorised fauna handler determines that movement is necessary and lawful.

During habitat disturbance: Daily controls and machinery interface

The fauna spotter catcher should control the interface between machinery and dense habitat. Work must stop when the approved controls cannot protect a bird, nest, dependent young or retained habitat.

  • Hold a daily pre-start covering the clearing boundary, approved work area, weather, fire conditions, fauna observations and stop-work requirements.
  • Keep machinery within surveyed and marked limits, and prevent vehicles, workers and materials from entering retained habitat or identified corridors.
  • Clear progressively in small stages towards retained habitat so that birds can move away from machinery without being forced across open ground where practicable.
  • Use a qualified fauna spotter catcher who can see the active clearing face and communicate directly with the machine operator.
  • Stop machinery immediately when the spotter catcher signals, when a bird is detected in the clearing area, or when visibility is lost in dense vegetation.
  • Do not burn, chip, mulch or compact retained dense vegetation unless that action has been assessed and authorised.

During habitat disturbance: Fauna handling and habitat features

Nest structure: A domed nest is made mainly from fine-leaved grasses and sedges in dense vegetation

Young after fledging: Young may remain in cryptic dense cover for up to two weeks after fledging

Handling authority: Only an appropriately authorised fauna handler should capture, handle or relocate the bird

  • Treat nests close to the ground, dense sedges, rushes, low shrubs and swamp edges as potential southern emu-wren habitat during clearing.
  • Do not handle an emu-wren unless the person is authorised under the relevant state permit and project fauna management plan.
  • If a bird is found, pause work, keep people and machinery back, allow an escape route to retained cover and follow the direction of the authorised fauna handler.
  • Relocate a bird only where required for its safety, permitted by the relevant authority and directed by the authorised handler, using nearby retained suitable habitat selected before works.
  • Do not remove dense vegetation, logs, rocks, wetland structure or other habitat features from retained areas unless approved in the fauna management plan.
  • Apply the project's standard controls for hollow-bearing trees, logs, rocks, burrows and other fauna features, noting that the species-specific priority is low dense vegetation and swamp structure rather than tree hollows.
  • Take any injured bird to an appropriately qualified wildlife carer or veterinarian through the approved wildlife rescue pathway, and record the outcome.

During habitat disturbance: Stop-work triggers and records

  • Stop work in the affected area if an emu-wren, nest, dependent young or injured bird is found until the fauna spotter catcher and environmental officer have assessed the situation.
  • Stop work if clearing exceeds the approved boundary, exclusion fencing is damaged, a corridor is blocked or a required fauna observer is absent.
  • Stop work and notify the environmental officer if fire, smoke, extreme heat, high winds or other conditions create an unacceptable risk to birds or retained habitat.
  • Record the date, time, GPS location, activity, bird age or sex if known, behaviour, handling or release action, personnel involved and the permit or approval relied on.
  • Photograph and map any nest, occupied habitat, injured bird, unauthorised clearing or damage to retained habitat, subject to animal welfare and approval conditions.
  • Notify the relevant regulator or wildlife authority where required by the approval, permit or state reporting system.

After habitat disturbance: Post-clearance checks

Post-clearance work must confirm that no birds remain in the disturbed area, that retained habitat and connections are intact, and that approval conditions have been met.

  • Inspect the cleared area, retained vegetation edges, access routes and swamp margins after each clearing stage for birds, nests, dependent young and injured fauna.
  • Check that exclusion fencing, no-go markers, retained corridors and drainage controls remain in place and have not been damaged by construction.
  • Complete a targeted follow-up survey where a bird was detected, habitat was disturbed during the breeding period, or clearing conditions reduced visibility.
  • Compare the final cleared area with approved plans and report any additional habitat loss, drainage, fire damage or fragmentation immediately.
  • Remove temporary materials and rehabilitate accidental disturbance within retained habitat as soon as practicable.

After habitat disturbance: Monitoring and reporting

Recovery indicators: Population size, breeding success, habitat condition and habitat extent

Known reoccupation constraint: Recolonisation is limited because the subspecies is largely sedentary and dispersal-limited

  • Monitor retained habitat for occupancy, calls, sightings, breeding activity, habitat condition and connectivity at intervals set by the approval or fauna management plan.
  • Continue monitoring areas affected by fire to assess habitat recovery and the species' return to regenerating vegetation.
  • Report survey effort, detections, incidents, handling outcomes, habitat loss and rehabilitation progress to the environmental officer and relevant authorities.
  • Submit verified occurrence records to the relevant state wildlife database, including records from construction personnel and fauna spotter catchers.
  • Review controls if monitoring shows declining occupancy, loss of dense vegetation, reduced wetland condition or further fragmentation.

After habitat disturbance: Offsets and residual impacts

  • Calculate any unavoidable loss or degradation of suitable habitat under the applicable approval and threatened species offset policy.
  • Prioritise avoidance, protection and restoration of connected habitat before considering an offset for residual impacts.
  • Ensure any offset or compensatory action protects suitable low dense vegetation, swamp or heath habitat and supports the affected subpopulation or a connected population where required.
  • Do not treat an offset as permission to clear known sites or remove habitat critical to the subspecies' survival.

Rehabilitation actions: Restore habitat structure

Rehabilitation should restore the vegetation structure, wetland condition and connections used by the southern emu-wren. The target is suitable, dense low cover with enough area and continuity to support shelter, insects, nesting and movement.

Recorded vegetation height at Whalers Way: Average vegetation height was about 500 mm, and no records were observed where vegetation exceeded an average height of 1.5 m

Important habitat structure: One or two low, dense vegetation layers provide shelter and support insect prey

  • Restore dense low shrub, heath, sedgeland or mallee structure rather than planting trees alone.
  • Use locally appropriate native species recorded from occupied habitat, such as mallee honey-myrtle Melaleuca brevifolia, totem poles Melaleuca decussata, dryland tea-tree Melaleuca lanceolata, coast beard-heath Leucopogon parviflorus, coast velvet bush Lasiopetalum discolor, coastal white mallee Eucalyptus diversifolia and ridge-fruited mallee Eucalyptus incrassata.
  • Re-establish sedgeland with appropriate local sedges and rushes, including coast sawsedge Gahnia trifida, bare twig-rush Baumea juncea and Juncus species where these suit the site.
  • Retain and reconnect patches of suitable habitat through revegetation, with the design based on habitat structure, patch configuration and the needs of the affected subpopulation.
  • Use local seed or other approved local provenance material where available, and avoid introducing species that change the structure or flammability of the habitat.

Rehabilitation actions: Wetlands, habitat features and threats

  • Restore natural wetland hydrology by preventing unnecessary drainage, maintaining suitable water levels and avoiding extraction that lowers water tables.
  • Reinstate suitable dense ground cover and retain logs, rocks and other natural cover where they occur, while avoiding unnecessary disturbance to established vegetation.
  • Control invasive weeds, including bridal creeper, African boxthorn and buffel grass, where they threaten native vegetation structure or increase fire risk.
  • Apply clean-down and hygiene procedures to reduce the risk of Phytophthora cinnamomi spreading into restored habitat.
  • Assess predator control after fire or habitat damage, because predation risk may increase when dense cover is removed.
  • Protect restored areas from livestock and excessive grazing by native or feral herbivores where grazing is reducing habitat quality.

Rehabilitation actions: Fire management and success measures

Long-term rehabilitation outcomes: Secure and increase existing subpopulations, improve connectivity and re-establish extirpated subpopulations where suitable habitat has been restored

Research priority: Assess how quickly different habitat types recover after fire and whether birds can recolonise recently burnt areas

  • Prepare a site-specific fire management approach that reduces the risk of one fire affecting an entire subpopulation while retaining the dense vegetation required by the birds.
  • Protect unburnt refuge areas from planned burning, clearing and other disturbance until adjoining burnt habitat has recovered sufficiently.
  • Monitor vegetation height, density, species composition, wetland condition, weed cover, fire effects, connectivity and use by emu-wrens.
  • Measure recovery through repeat records of occupancy, call detections, population size, breeding success and the area and condition of suitable habitat.
  • Use monitoring results to adjust grazing, weed control, hydrology, predator management, fire planning and supplementary planting.
  • Consider re-establishing a local population or translocating birds only after habitat has been restored, feasibility has been assessed and the relevant authorities approve the action.

Sources