Great Bustards nest again in the UK

This is a video of Great Bustards and other birds in Spain.

From the Great Bustard Group in Britain:

Great Bustards nest again in UK

Earlier this spring a female Great Bustard from the GBG reintroduction trial in Wiltshire nested and laid two eggs. Due to fears of egg thieves and disturbance from bird watchers, the announcement was delayed and the location of the nest is being kept secret.

This event is enormously exciting and a huge milestone in the quest to return this magnificent bird to Britain. The last wild Great Bustard eggs were laid in 1832 when Queen Victoria was a young girl and would not be crowned for another 5 years and steam had not yet replaced sail on the world’s oceans.

It had been thought 2008 would be the first year of nesting as the males need to be 4-5 years old before they can breed.

See also here.

Great bustards to be released on Salisbury Plain: here. And here.

19 more Russian Great Bustards now in the UK: here.

June 2010: Four great bustard chicks born on Salisbury Plain: here. And here.

The programme to return the great bustard, the world’s heaviest flying bird, to breeding in Britain has been given a considerable lift by the European Union. An EU grant of more than £1.8m has been awarded to the Great Bustard Project, based on Salisbury Plain: here.

Great Bustard flies again across South West – after 180 year absence: here.

Great bustard in the Netherlands: here. And here.

The Central Asian Great Bustard Project was initiated in 2006 to address a critical lack of information about declining populations of this species in Central Asia. The results of pilot work in Mongolia and Kazakhstan, involving extensive ground surveys and interviews of local people, only increased our concern about the status of these populations: here.

Up until now it was unknown whether males of the great bustard (Otis tarda), an emblematic bird in Spain and endangered at a global level, transmit information on their weight, size, and age through their plumage. For the first time a study shows that the ‘beards’ and the design of the neck are “reliable” indicators of the weight and age of their bearers, and are used to both avoid fights with competitors and to attract females: here.

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