PPart of my series on Australian birds this paintind was hung as part of my solo exhibition at Yering Station in the summer 2013-14 - The Gouldian Finch (Erythrura gouldiae)‚ also known as the Lady Gouldian Finch‚ Gould's Finch or the Rainbow Finch‚ is a colourful passerine bird endemic to Australia. There is strong evidence of a continuing decline‚ even at the best-known site near Katherine in the Northern Territory. Large numbers are bred in captivity‚ particularly in Australia. In the state of South Australia‚ National Parks & Wildlife Department permit returns in the late 1990s showed that over 13‚000 Gouldian Finches were being kept by aviculturists. If extrapolated to an Australia-wide figure this would result in a total of over 100‚000 birds. In 1992‚ it was classified as "Endangered in the wild" under IUCN's criteria C2ai. This was because the viable population size was estimated to be less than 2‚500 mature individuals‚ no permanent subpopulation was known to contain more than 250 mature individuals‚ and that a continuing decline was observed in the number of mature individuals. It is currently subject to a conservation program.