Distribution and habitat:Distribution and habitat:

Distribution and habitat:

The Australian Painted Snipe has a historical distribution through most of Australia 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). Smaller historical and/or present concentrations include the Channel Country in Queensland and South Australia, the Capricornia coast of central Queensland, 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 (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).