Drought threat to rare emu-wren

The Environment Department says ongoing drought is significantly affecting the almost-extinct mallee emu-wren.

The tiny bird is found in South Australia in Ngarkat Conservation Park, south of Pinnaroo.

The department is keen to draw attention to the bird as World Threatened Species Day in marked on Sunday.

Ecologist Peter Cale says dried-out vegetation and bushfires have reduced available habitats for mallee emu-wrens.

"A single extensive fire in the reserve that burns out the area where they occur would cause their local extinction from this state," he said.

"However in Victoria there's still numbers extending across Murray Sunset and Hattah [Kulkyne] conservation reserves so they're not likely to go extinct in total but certainly in South Australia [they could]."