Source: https://www.britannica.com/animal/bustard#ref136584
The best-known bustard is the great bustard (Otis tarda), largest European land bird, the male weighing as much as 14 kg (31 pounds) and having a 120-cm (4-foot) length and a 240-cm (8-foot) wingspread. It is found in grainfields and open steppes from central and southern Europe to Central Asia and Manchuria. The sexes are similar in coloration, being grayish above, barred with black and brown, and whitish below. The male is stouter and has whitish, bristly feathers at the base of the bill. A wary bird, the great bustard is difficult to approach, running swiftly when endangered. On land it assumes a stately gait. On the wing, it displays a relatively slow but powerful and sustained flight. The spring courtship ceremonies are characteristic: the cock’s head is bent back almost touching the uplifted tail, and the throat pouch is inflated. Two or three eggs, olive blotched with brown, are laid in a shallow excavation sheltered by low vegetation.
The little bustard (Otis tetrax) ranges from western Europe and Morocco to Afghanistan. The bustards of South Africa are known as paauw, the largest being the great paauw or kori bustard (Ardeotis kori). The Arabian bustard (A. arabs) is found in Morocco and in northern tropical Africa south of the Sahara, as are a number of species belonging to several other genera. In Australia the bustard Choriotis australis is called turkey.
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Austria
Europe
Cross-border cooperation boosts the great bustard
A series of LIFE projects in central Europe have worked with stakeholders to improve semi-natural grasslands and stop birds colliding with energy infrastructure. This joined-up conservation is increasing great bustard populations, with benefits for a host of species.
The great bustard (Otis tarda) is a large, social bird species inhabiting open farmland and semi-natural grasslands. The spread of intensive farming and power lines led to a rapid decline in numbers in central Europe. For instance, in West Pannonia (Austria, Hungary, Slovakia) the population fell from around 3 500 individuals in 1900 to just 130 by 1995. Since 1992, LIFE has funded 8 projects in this part of Europe that have established or improved EU agri-environmental schemes that maintain the bird’s preferred habitats, buried power lines or made them more visible to prevent fatal collisions, and provided data to ensure wind turbines are located where they will cause the species least harm.
Watching a flock of 250 great bustards flying across an open landscape in Austria near the Slovak border gives a good picture of what LIFE has achieved here. In 1996, the species was close to extinction in Austria, with only a few birds locally and around 60 in the whole country. Today, over 400 birds can regularly be seen in the Parndorfer Platte-Heideboden Natura 2000 site alone.
From the start, LIFE projects have built partnerships. “The main conservation challenge is finding solutions through agreements between farmers, villages, hunters and nature conservationists,” says Werner Falb-Meixner, chairman of the Austrian Society for Great Bustard Conservation (ÖGG). “It’s a long process, but it has been a big success. Bringing people together has reduced conflicts.”
Early success relied on agri-environment schemes, under which farmers are paid to cultivate special fallow for the great bustard. Rural Development Programmes in Austria and Hungary continue to support low-intensity grazing and post-breeding autumn mowing, which is crucial for maintaining open grassland habitat for great bustards, and enhancing biodiversity to support many bird species.
Power without consequences
While these actions boosted great bustard populations, the most important cause of mortality remained: collisions with power lines. Building on the work of 3 earlier Austrian projects, LIFE Great Bustard is carrying out a host of coordinated actions along the borders of Austria and Hungary from 2016 to the end of 2023. Energy companies working in partnership with the project have buried 125 km of medium-voltage power lines passing through great bustard territory (100 km in Austria and 25 km in Hungary). High-voltage power lines have been marked to make them more visible to flying birds, which also helps protected raptors such as the imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca).
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Germany
Facebook group: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3440208326089332&id=522234937886700&fs=0&focus_composer=0
How to protect the great bustard, one of the world’s heaviest flying birds
If you’ve never heard of the great bustard, it’s probably that there’s no room for them where you live. The large bird is under threat. United Nations expert Tilman Schneider explains why, and what we can do about it.
DW: What is a great bustard?
Tilman Schneider: In Europe, the great bustard is the heaviest flying bird. It can weigh more than 15 kilograms [33 pounds]. In one German region, they jokingly call it the “Brandenburg ostrich,” although it’s not related. The bustard family [of birds] live in mostly open landscapes, and would have a problem maneuvering in dense forest.
So is being weighty an advantage, or a disadvantage?
When it comes to predation, it’s good, because only larger predators can attack the adult bird. But the eggs and the chicks can still be taken by smaller predators like foxes, raccoons or even crows and ravens.
This is partly due to human impact. We have removed top predators in many places, like for instance the wolf, which would have reduced the number of foxes. And with the eradication of rabies, fox populations have increased in some areas.
Why does the UN treat these birds as a flagship species?
The great bustard lives in open landscapes. Here in central Europe, that means wide areas of agricultural land used non-intensively, meaning a lot of the fields left fallow. There must be enough insects to feed the chicks. So the great bustard benefits from organic, or at least less-intensive agriculture, which doesn’t use too many fertilizers and no pesticides. These lead to a decrease in plant species, and therefore less insects and biodiversity in those areas.
That’s why the great bustard can be a flagship species for using those landscapes in a less intensive way, thus providing a good basis for other species to survive as well.
Where do you find great bustards in Europe?
The largest populations are located in Spain (around 30,000 individuals), and in central Europe — mainly in Austria, Hungary and the Carpathian Basin.
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Websites:
http://www.grosstrappe.org/bindegarn-und-bindenetze-sind-nicht-nur-fuer-grosstrappen-gefaehrlich
Poland
(Great Bustard = drop [s], dropie [pl])
3.12.2019 This year, the State Forests has begun a reintroduction project of the great bustard. In Poland, the last wild great bustards died off in the late 1980s.
The main objective of the project ‘Reintroduction of the great bustard Otis tarda on the territory of the Republic of Poland’ is to create a free-living population of these birds.
At the beginning, the University of Zielona Góra – one of the partners to the programme, will prepare a Project Feasibility Study, which is a document constituting the substantive basis for the entire project. This will be a compendium of knowledge about how to raise young birds and about the places in the agricultural landscape of western Poland (where the last wild great bustards existed) suitable for their resettlement. The document will also indicate the principles of cooperation with farmers and the ways of financing such plantations which are suitable for the bustard.
The Forest Gene Bank ‘Kostrzyca’(FGB) involved in the project, will determine the population that will be genetically appropriate to set up the breeding flock. In the future, FGB will be responsible for keeping records in a flock book and for managing genetic resources.
The project will use experience in the field of breeding and reintroduction of bustards developed by ornithologists from Germany, Hungary and Great Britain. The obtained birds will go to the Great Bustard Breeding Centre in the Świebodzin Forest District, which is being built at the moment, and the show aviary at the Warsaw ZOO.
The main burden of breeding will rest on the Świebodzin Forest District (Regional Directorate of SF in Zielona Góra). This is where the birds, which are going to be freed after a several-stage adaptation process, will come from.
It is worth noting that larger populations of the great bustard in Europe are in Germany (Brandenburg), on the border of Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in Spain, Hungary and Russia. Attempts to reintroduce bustards are being made in Great Britain and Sweden.
The great bustard is one of the heaviest bird species which is capable of active flight. Males can reach a mass of 16-18 kg, and they are even heavier than mute swans. Females are lighter and much smaller, as they weigh only 4-6 kg.
These birds prefer vast open spaces. However, along with the transformation of landscapes and habitats, caused by intensification, mechanisation and chemicalisation of agriculture, as well as emerging monocultures of crops, changing cultivated plant species, densifying power lines, rail transport and agriculture, it was increasingly difficult to find optimal conditions for themselves to live. All the more so because it is a species that is not ecologically flexible and it can hardly adapt to new environmental conditions. This resulted in a drastic decrease in number, and, eventually, caused the complete disappearance of the entire domestic population.
Poaching and increasing population of fox also became a problem.
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Polish Greyhound and the Great Bustard
The first records about the existence of greyhounds in Poland come from the times of Gallus Anonymus, 12th century or 13th century is considered the beginnings of the race’s existence. Originally, these dogs were used for hunting birds – Great bustards. The Polish Greyhound (Chart polski) was the favorite dog of the Polish nobility.
After World War II, breeding of this breed disappeared. Hunting with greyhounds was forbidden, and greyhound dogs were liquidated. Their keeping and breeding has been covered with a special permit, and this provision still applies. The breed began to reproduce in the 1970s. Contemporary Polish Greyhound breeding was started by Stanisław Czerniakowski, who bought two females – Taiga and Struska and one dog – Elbrus in the vicinity of Rostov-on-Don. From the association of Taiga and Elbrus the first litter of Polish greyhounds was born.
Portugal
Romania
19.05.2020 After decades of being extinct, Great Bustard back in Romania
“We have the pleasure to announce extraordinary news; finally, we have proof of a Great Bustard (Otis tarda) nesting in Romania. We rarely have the opportunity to announce such great news in the arena of nature conservation,” the Milvus Group, Bird and Nature Protection Association announced in a press release.
After many decades of uncertainty, there is proof that the Great Bustard is indeed breeding in Romania. It took the association 13 years of fieldwork and, perhaps, a stroke of luck to get this confirmation.
The Great Bustard (Otis tarda) is the heaviest flying bird in Europe. Classified by the IUCN as vulnerable, the species had disappeared from most parts of Europe by the 1950s, as its once extensive habitats (the Eurasian steppe) had become fragmented. This happened in Romania also, where after the nationalization of the communist era, the grasslands (its natural habitats) were tilled and converted into farmland. Mechanized agriculture, hunting and poaching also contributed to their decline.
n the 19th century there were stable populations in Banat, Crișana, the Transylvanian Plateau, the Wallachian Plain, Dobruja and a few other places in Moldavia. However, according to the official records from 1988, there were only 48 bustards left in Romania. After 1990, the Great Bustard was considered extinct in Romania.
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Timeline of the Great Bustard in Romania: https://www.dropia.eu/gb/events/timeline
14.05.2020 EXCLUSIVE: Great Bustard nest found in Romania!
The great bustard is nesting again in Romania, local NGO says
Russia/Eurasia
The Great Bustard, Asian Houbara Bustard, and Little Bustard are iconic species of the Eurasian steppes. The long-distance migrations and rapid growth of these birds in Eurasia are adaptations to harsh continental weather. Their predilection for walking and simple nests on the ground are fitting for the region’s treeless grassland and desert expanses.
Though they may live close to human settlements and in agricultural fields, where they consume insect pests, many residents are unaware of their presence. This is due to the cryptic coloration and wary nature of these birds, which is a matter of survival for species which have been hunted for millennia.
These heavy-bodied birds also perform spectacular breeding displays, and exhibit extreme sexual dimorphisms. These stem from the ‘lek’ breeding system of these species, in which males compete for female attention at traditional gathering sites each spring.
Eurasian bustards face a variety of threats, including poaching, poisoning, collisions with overhead cabling, and incompatible agricultural practices. The fact that they roam over large territories annually is challenging for their conservation, but makes them excellent ambassadors for landscape-level conservation and sustainable agriculture.
Our group, the Eurasian Bustard Alliance (formerly Central Asian Great Bustard Project), brings together researchers from across northern Eurasia and the USA to work towards the conservation of bustard species. We aim to expand scientific knowledge of poorly understood populations of these birds with an emphasis on gathering information with conservation implications and engaging local people in the research process. We also promote awareness of these species and advance conservation policy.
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Saratov branch Servetsov Institute of Ecology and Science of the Russian Academy of Science
http://www.sevin.ru/menues1/index_eng.html?../stations_eng/saratov_lab.html
At station the following researches are carried out:
- Development of scientific bases for the protection of Great Bustard (Otis tarda L.) in the Saratov region
- Studying dynamics of steppe ecosystems during demutative successions on set-aside lands and pastures and at a climate change
- Studying vertebrate species diversity of semi-arid areas on the southeast of Russia
Saratov branch SIEE of the Russian Academy of Science has been organized in 1995 for studying vertebrate ecology of a steppe zone and development of measures for protection of rare species. The branch has a biological research station in village Djakovka which is situated on the left riverside Volga in the south of the Saratov region. On the basis of a biological research station field and laboratory researches by employees of branch and various laboratories of Institute are carried out.
In 1998-2000 the Russian-German project «Development of scientific bases for the protection of Great Bustard in the Saratov region» has been executed at financial support Frankfurt zoological societies (Germany). For this period many questions of Great bustard ecology have been investigated, by means of satellite telemetry ways of migration on wintering and back on places of nesting are researched. Since 2003 on present time the project with Great Bustard Group (UK) on bustard reintroduction in the Great Britain is carried out. On the basis of a biological research station of branch it incubation and breeding of bustard nestlings from the eggs taken from perishing layings on fields is carry out.
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12.07.2012 Russian great bustard eggs hatched in Wiltshire
10.06.2010 Four great bustard chicks born on Salisbury Plain
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Great Bustard in European Russia – Alexander Antonchikov [Powerpoint presentation]: https://www.cms.int/great-bustard/sites/default/files/document/Russian%20Bird%20Conservation%20Union%20%28Saratov%20Branch%29.pdf
Spain
The United Kingdom
Great Bustard Group (Twitter) @bustardgroup
Reintroducing the great bustard to southern England
The overall objective of the project was to significantly increase the small population of great bustards on Salisbury Plain over the duration of the LIFE+ project – to start to establish a self-sustaining population in the UK.
Overview
The great bustard is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and European populations have been in long-term decline. This has only been arrested by conservation projects in some areas. This project contributed to the conservation of the species in Europe. In the UK, the great bustard became nationally extinct when the last bird was shot in 1832. This iconic species of the Wiltshire landscape returned to the UK in 2004 when the Great Bustard Group initiated the 10-year trial reintroduction. The project sourced birds rescued from agricultural operations in Russia, with a plan to release 20 birds per year onto Salisbury Plain. The project achieved early progress with females laying eggs in 2007 (though unfortunately they were infertile), and males reaching maturity in 2009. This was followed by the success of the first chicks to be hatched for over 175 years, with fledging achieved in the same year. Unfortunately, this chick did not survive its first winter. Great bustards in the past occurred on chalk downland in central southern England and in the open sandy Brecklands of eastern England, and archaeological evidence shows the species was native rather than introduced. In addition, great bustards from continental Europe moved to the UK during the colder months. Traditionally birds of expansive grass plains, they have adapted well to arable farming in some European countries. This ambitious project aimed to try and restore the species to the UK after an absence of almost 200 years.
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Mating display
