Why we oppose recreational native bird hunting

Recreational native bird hunting must end for us to restore native waterbird populations to healthy levels in across Australia.

Recreational hunting adds an unnecessary pressure to waterbird populations. For example, the Eastern Australian Waterbird Survey shows waterbird populations have declined as much as 90% over the last forty years in eastern Australia, including those duck species identified as ‘game’ which are at only 25% their long-term average numbers. Short-term trends are also of concern, with half as many birds being reported in 2024’s surveys as 2023!

While habitat loss from climate change and poor water resource management are key factors in the declines of wetland birds, their effects on waterbird populations are compounded by hunting seasons that wipe out hundreds of thousands of ‘game’ ducks each year, as well as impacts on threatened and non-game species caught up as collateral.

The ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, and Western Australia have already banned recreational bird hunting for environmental, ethical, and cultural reasons.

Help BirdLife Australia secure an end unsustainable recreational native bird hunting across Australia, by emailing key decision makers using our tool, today!

More Key Facts

Below are facts from our waterbird experts about recreational native bird hunting and its ecological impacts in south-eastern Australia.

Recreational hunting adds an unnecessary pressure to declining duck populations.

• Just as droughts are known to cause population declines for waterbirds, we know that we need prolonged wet conditions to simply maintain waterbird population sizes as they are.
• In order to recover waterbird populations to healthy pre-1980 levels, breeding and recruitment conditions for waterbirds need to not only be good enough to maintain the population at its current size, but to grow the population. Successive quality breeding seasons are needed for population recovery.
• Long-term monitoring across Eastern Australia shows that duck species populations have not yet recovered after previous repeated years of drought and low rainfall.
• While the last few seasons have been wet in some areas, the bounce back of waterbird populations has not been sufficient to restore populations to healthy sizes. Several more good seasons are needed to recover population loss inflicted from periods of severe drought.
• “Game” species are at just 25% of their long-term average numbers.

Recreational hunting can have negative direct and indirect impacts on threatened and non-game species.

• Plains-wanderers, a critically endangered species, can occasionally be killed during the quail hunting season as they look superficially similar and are found in the same habitat.
• With wetlands in better condition than previous years, conditions are ripe for breeding. This also means greater risk, with higher aggregations of threatened wetlands birds and non-game species.
• Notable threatened or non-game species at risk include: Australasian Bittern, Australian Painted Snipe, Brolga, Great and Intermediate Egrets, Hardheads, Australasian Shovelers, Blue-billed, Freckled, and Musk Ducks. Many of these taxa are often found in mixed flocks of game species.
• Migratory shorebirds feed in wetlands, with adults fuelling up for their departure for the northern hemisphere in late March/early April, but with many birds too young to participate in breeding remaining in Australia throughout the year.
• Even if these birds are not directly shot, the disturbance to them in their habitat can have drastic and detrimental effects.