Extinction Risks of Tasmania's Avifauna

ABSTRACT Globally, island biotas are continuing to experience catastrophic losses leading to species extinctions. In Australia, 31 bird taxa have become extinct since European colonisation, including four from Tasmania including Macquarie Island. In 2024, the Tasmanian Government's State of the Environment Report provided compelling evidence on the broad scale deterioration in the conservation status of Tasmania's birds, with the number of threatened species comprising 12.5% of all bird taxa known from the State. This alarming finding concurs with other State and National assessments that have shown losses in Australia's avifauna have been underway for decades. However, by excluding taxa on subantarctic Macquarie Island, the situation on mainland Tasmania is even more concerning with 37 bird taxa currently listed on State and Commonwealth threatened species legislations, representing over 18% of all non‐vagrant native bird taxa in Tasmania. These legislations include 18 endangered or critically endangered taxa and 13 endemic breeding species or subspecies with increasing extinction trajectories. Here, the survival prospects of mainland Tasmania's birds are viewed through the lens of well‐established risk factors intrinsic to island faunas to highlight the urgency to catalyse conservation efforts for those identified at elevated risk of extinction.