Critically endangered plains-wanderer found further north than ever in South Australia
Good news has emerged for one of Australia’s most elusive and critically endangered birds, the plains-wanderer, with confirmed calls recently recorded in South Australia’s far north.
A song meter placed in the northern Marla-Oodnadatta district has detected the unmistakable calls of a plains-wanderer, pushing the known distribution of this ancient ground dwelling bird further north than ever previously recorded in the state.
Considered a “living fossil” with a lineage stretching back more than 60 million years, the plains-wanderer has no close living relatives, and fewer than 1,000 are believed to remain in Australia.
Every new record is significant, and this find represents a major boost for conservation efforts.
The detection follows an extraordinary 33,000 hours of audio monitoring, as part of a project delivered in partnership between the SA Arid Lands Landscape Board, Bush Heritage Australia and BirdLife Australia.
The habitat where the call was recorded closely resembles country where plains-wanderers have previously been found, and the new information will now feed into updated habitat modelling and refine survey efforts across South Australia.
Since July 2024, the project has surveyed 151 sites across 59 properties spanning the SA Arid Lands, Northern and Yorke, and Alinytjara Wiluṟara landscape regions.
Monitoring locations include pastoral properties, freehold farms, national parks, Indigenous Protected Areas and private conservation properties. Song meters record for two hours daily, at dawn and dusk when the birds’ distinctive mating calls are most likely to be heard.
The female makes a low-frequency, cow-like ‘ooming’ noise, that is deep and repetitive.
A community-driven Citizen Science project is running alongside the acoustic monitoring, with 16 sightings reported so far.
While the number may seem small, researchers say any verified record of the species is enormously valuable.
SAAL Community Ecologist Declan Morris said community information had been vital in directing surveys to priority habitat.
“Plains-wanderers are very elusive, so when community members are also keeping an eye out for them, it helps conservation projects like this a lot,” he said. “All reports and sightings from the community are important because they are used in many different ways to help the species.”
A detailed plains-wanderer management guide explains how to create suitable habitat for plains-wanderers. And a video is now available to help members of the public identify the bird, which has distinctive, bright yellow legs and beak.
