Effects on other native species and biodiversity benefits

The Recovery Plan focuses on the protection, restoration and creation of freshwater ephemeral wetlands, the principal breeding habitat for the Australian Painted Snipe. Australia has a diverse waterbird fauna adapted to these unpredictable habitats (Kingsford and Norman 2002), exploiting their high productivity when flooded after having dried out (Taylor 2003). Consequently, appropriate management of these wetlands will benefit many plant and animal species, as well as associated ecological communities.

Migratory shorebirds such as Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata), Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis), Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea), Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis), Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) and Latham’s Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) have been seen using wetlands while Australian Painted Snipe are present. Other inland-breeding resident shorebirds such as Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus), Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) and Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae) have been found nesting near Australian Painted Snipe and may also benefit from the protection and restoration of freshwater ephemeral wetlands (Rogers et al. 2005). In total, Rogers et al. (2005) listed twenty-one species of threatened birds at Hird Swamp that could also benefit from a ‘Painted Snipe Management Regime’.

In the rice fields of southern New South Wales, Australian Painted Snipe occur alongside the Endangered Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), and present challenges for targeted conservation management because of their conflicting habitat requirements (Herring and Silcocks 2014).

Wetlands surrounding Broad Sound, Central Queensland, where three breeding records of Australian Painted Snipe were obtained in the 2000s (e.g. Jaensch et al. 2004; Black et al. 2010), form the core refuge and main breeding area for the Critically Endangered Capricorn Yellow Chat. Management of wetlands on these grazed coastal plains to favour Australian Painted Snipe is broadly likely to also deliver favourable habitat for the chat—as well as all the migratory shorebirds listed above.

The wide distribution and unpredictable nature of temporary freshwater wetlands makes it difficult to identify population trends of species within them. As a result, it is possible that there are other species in these habitats that are threatened, but not yet recognised as such. The Australian Painted Snipe, an unusually attractive and enigmatic resident waterbird, may be of value as a flagship species to highlight the importance of conserving these wetlands – over a very wide area of the Australian continent.