The black-eared miner (Manorina melanotis) is an endangered honeyeater endemic to mallee woodland in south-eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
Manorina melanotis was identified by Francis Erasmus Wilson in 1911.
In 2022, it was reported that the species had been interbreeding with the yellow-throated miner.
Conservation status
thumb|Yellow-throated miner (right) and black-eared miner × yellow-throated miner hybrid (left). Recent contact of black-earned miner and yellow-throated miner populations is due to human impacts on mallee habitat
Black-eared miners' survival became threatened by habitat clearance to make way for agriculture, and the bird experienced competition from feral goats, European rabbits, kangaroos, and other large herbivores, which then had access to water which they had not previously had. while a 2018 study ranked it as the 10th bird at most risk of extinction.
, there remain around 200 colonies, with up to 20 birds within each colony. Interbreeding with the yellow-throated miner has affected the genetic integrity of the black-eared miner, which adds to the risk to their population.
The species is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List (2021.3) and under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, and its conservation status in several Australian states is as follows:
- New South Wales: Listed as "Critically Endangered" by the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW), as of February 2022. Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has been prepared. As part of the project, researchers will do genetic testing of birds in the 200 populations.