Michele Mendi

The species occupies various types of open, usually treeless, habitats – short-grass plains, pastures, fallow and stubble fields; there is sexual and seasonal change in habitat use (Collar, Garcia, 2020).

Species’ global range discontinuously extends from SW Europe and Morocco, C & E Europe, C Asia to SE Russia, Mongolia & NE China. Within Europe, population strongholds are located in the Iberian Peninsula (80%) & European Russia (Keller et al. 2020).

Unlike Asian populations (long-distance migrants), those in Europe are resident or short-distance migrants.

Its population trend in Europe is generally declining. Evaluated as “Vulnerable” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		35200-41800,38300
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Great Bustard

C European populations are generally resident but some birds migrate W & SW driven by cold spells and snow cover (Streich et al. 2006). Some birds from the population in N Germany undertake within-country movements to W, some reaching the Netherlands. On rare occasions, some individuals are even found further away SW from their ringing sites – in Belgium and NE France. Couple of birds moved NE & E to Poland. Some birds from the Hungarian population take SW routes to Italy or migrate S to the Balkan Peninsula – encounters in Albania (Csörgo et al. 2009) and Greece (Streich et al. 2006).

Populations from the Iberian Peninsula are also largely resident or dispersive (Equipa Atlas 2018, Collar, Garcia, 2020), juvenile males typically traveling further than females (Morales et al. 2000).

Birds breeding in Lower Volga Region overwinter in S Ukraine (Watzke 2001).

Most encounters come from Germany.

Recoveries by Condition for Great Bustard

Protected species in Europe during the last several decades; game bird in the past. Most encounters are obtained in three major “waves” – in the early 1980s, late 1990s and around 2010. The encounters are generated mainly by juveniles, they are spread year round but nearly a third of them (ca. 31%) come from late summer – Jul-Aug (31% combined). The bulk of encounters come from C Europe (95%), the remainder – from W Europe.

Regarding the recovery condition categories the situation changed little over the years, data after 1960 only. Those based on dead birds (mostly found, sick and wounded) constitute 15-28%, while those based on alive birds (mostly metal ring readings in the field) – 68-85%.

Most distant (>=50 km) recoveries (93%) are less than 400 km away from the ringing site.

Annual Movements for Great Bustard

Natal dispersal occurred in ca. 48% of the birds from populations in Spain (Martín et al. 2008).

Birds breeding in NE Germany are encountered in NW Germany or the neighbouring countries (Netherlands, France) – W and SW from their ringing sites, mostly in Jan, some of them staying until Mar. Couple of individuals are recorded in W & NW Poland in May.

Lower Volga Region breeders reach their wintering grounds close to Crimea as early as late Oct, mostly in Nov; return migration lasts for 5-9 days and takes place in Mar (Watzke 2001).

Four different movement patterns have been found in adult females from NW Spain – from females staying all year round within a relatively small home range area to females migrating between breeding and wintering areas (Alonso et al. 2000).

Human-induced mortality has been found to change species migration patterns (Palacín et al. 2017).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Great Bustard

Most European populations are mostly sedentary or locally dispersive, others (E Europe) undertake short- to medium-distance movements (Watzke 2001). Mean natal dispersal distance has been found to be greater in males than in females (Alonso, Alonso, 1992).

Birds from the N German breeding population are encountered mostly in mid-winter (some – until early spring) W & SW from the ringing sites, covering short to medium distances within the same or neighbouring countries. Some birds are encountered in Poland until late spring.

The species is a differential migrant by sex in C Spain, males being less tolerant to summer heat – they migrate N after the breeding season, then move S in autumn-winter where they share the wintering grounds with migratory females (Alonso et al. 2001, Alonso et al. 2009, Palacín et al. 2009). Migratory behaviour was found to be flexible and culturally transmitted (Palacín et al. 2011). 

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
Alonso, J., Palacín, C.J., Alonso, J.A., Martín, C.A. 2009 . Post-breeding migration in male great bustards: low tolerance of the heaviest Palaearctic bird to summer heat. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63: 1705–1715
Alonso, J.A., Martín, C.A., Alonso, J.C., Morales, M.B., Lane, S.J. 2001 . Seasonal movements of male Great Bustards in Central Spain. Journal of Field Ornithology 72: 504–508
Alonso, J.C., Alonso, J.A. 1992 . Male-biased dispersal in the Great Bustard Otis tarda. Ornis Scandinavica 23: 81–88
Alonso, J.C., Morales, M.B., Alonso, J.A. 2000 . Partial migration, and lek and nesting area fidelity in female Great Bustards. Condor 102: 127–136
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Otis tarda. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/12/2021.
Csörgo, T., Karcza, Zs., Halmos, G., Magya,r G., Gyurácz, J., Szép, T., Bankovics, A., Schmidt, A. & Schmidt, E. 2009 . Magyar madárvonulási atlasz (Hungarian Bird Migration Atlas). Kossuth Kiadó, , Budapest
Equipa Atlas 2018 . Atlas das Aves Invernantes e Migradoras de Portugal 2011-2013. Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves, LabOr- Laboratório de Ornitologia – ICAAM - Universidade de Évora, Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas, Instituto das Florestas e Conservação da Natureza (Madeira) et al., Lisboa
Martín, C.A., Alonso, J.C., Alonso, J.A., Palacín, C.G., Magaña, M., Martín, B. 2008 . Natal dispersal in great bustards: the effect of sex, local population size and spatial isolation. 77The Journal of animal ecology : 326–334
Morales, M.B., Alonso, J.C., Alonso, J.A., Martin, E. 2000 . Migration Patterns in Male Great Bustards (Otis tarda). 117Auk: 493–498
Palacín, C., Alonso, J.C., Alonso, J.A., Magaña, M., Martín, C.A. 2011 . Cultural transmission and flexibility of partial migration patterns in a long-lived bird, the great bustard Otis tarda. 42Journal Avian Biology : 301–308
Palacín, C., Alonso, J.C., Alonso, J.A., Martín, C.A., Magaña, M., Martin, B. 2009 . Differential Migration by Sex in the Great Bustard: Possible Consequences of an Extreme Sexual Size Dimorphism. 115Ethology: 617–626
Palacín, C., Alonso, J.C., Martín, C.A., Alonso, J.A. 2017 . Changes in bird-migration patterns associated with human-induced mortality. 31Conserv Biol. : 106–115
Streich, W.J., Litzbarski, H., Ludwig, B., Ludwig, S. 2006 . What triggers facultative winter migration of Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in Central Europe?. 52European Journal of Wildlife Research. : 48–53
Watzke, H. 2001 . Results from satellite telemetry of Great Bustards in the Saratov region of Russia. 6Bustard Studies : 83–98

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