Botaurus poiciloptilus occurs in the wetlands of southern Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia (to France). In Australia the population is now estimated to number not more than 1,000 mature individuals¹⁵. Consecutive atlas censuses in Australia have shown a marked decrease in reporting rate; the species was recorded in 260 10-minute grid squares in 1977-1981, 142 grid squares in 1998-2003, and just 61 in 2003-2008¹⁶. The declining reporting rate was particularly pronounced in the Riverina (63%), Tasmania (>90%), and south-west Australia (>90%). This decline in reporting rate is thought to represent a genuine population decline over the period. In Australia, most birds are in the Murray-Darling basin and adjacent coastal areas. In Western Australia, the population was estimated to contain up to 100 pairs in 1980⁷, but it is now much reduced, with the largest concentration in the Albany and Lake Muir wetlands. There have been no confirmed records from the Swan Coastal Plain since 1992 and surveys conducted in 2007 and 2008 found that half the wetlands that supported the species in 1980 now retained no suitable habitat¹⁷. There are now only occasional records from Queensland⁵ and there appears to have been no great influx to remnant wetlands after the recent drought, as might have been expected if they were more common inland. In South Australia, breeding is confined to the south-east, however, loss of suitable habitat at Bool Lagoon, arguably the key site in Australia for this species, and other wetlands in the area due to changes in regional drainage, has probably had a large impact in last 10-20 years¹³. It is now known from just one site, Hirds Swamp, in Victoria¹⁸. In Tasmania the species is now recorded from only handful of sites and several of the major lakes that it once occupied have been dry for some years. In New Zealand, the estimated population was between 580-725 individuals in 1980⁶; numbers may be greater, given the lack of targeted survey work, and the large size of suitable swamps⁹. In New Caledonia and Uvea, there have been just two recent records of single calling males, and the population is not thought to exceed 50 individuals^1,3.