Aggressive exclusion of birds from woodland and forest habitat by abundant Noisy Miners Manorina melanocephala (Latham 1802) was listed as a KEY THREATENING PROCESS on Schedule 3 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 [27 September 2013].
The Noisy Miner is a large (24-28 cm, 70-80 g), sedentary, highly aggressive honeyeater (family Meliphagidae) endemic to eastern Australia. In NSW the Noisy Miner is found throughout the coastal plains, foothills, ranges and tablelands (up to 1200 m), as well as on the inland slopes and plains of the semi-arid zone, favouring open, lightly timbered areas and habitat edges and so has benefitted from the large-scale vegetation changes that accompanied the European settlement of Australia. This includes forest and woodland clearance and fragmentation, as well as a reduction in understory vegetation by livestock grazing, invasion of exotic grasses and altered fire regimes.
A range of threatened woodland and forest bird species listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 are adversely affected by aggressive exclusion by abundant Noisy Miners including Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia), Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor), Speckled Warbler (Chthonicola sagittata), Brown Treecreeper (eastern subspecies) (Climacteris picumnus victoriae), Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera), Little Lorikeet (Glossopsitta pusilla), Painted Honeyeater (Grantiella picta), Hooded Robin (south-eastern form) (Melanodryas cucullata cucullata), Black-chinned Honeyeater (eastern subspecies) (Melithreptus gularis gularis), Turquoise Parrot (Neophema pulchella), Gilbert’s Whistler (Pachycephala inornata), Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang), Flame Robin (P. phoenicea), Grey-crowned Babbler (eastern subspecies) (Pomatostomus temporalis temporalis), and Diamond Firetail (Stagonopleura guttata). These and other bird species are primarily impacted by their active exclusion from areas of otherwise suitable habitat, which limits feeding, breeding and dispersal opportunities and therefore ultimately population size and persistence.
A Saving Our Species conservation project is currently being developed for this species and will be available soon. For information on how you can contribute to this species' recovery, see the Activities to assist this species section below.