First MacQueen’s Bustard nests in the UAE for many decades

MacQueen's bustard

First Houbara Bustard Nests in the UAE Desert for many Decades

May 2007. The National Aviation Research Centre (NARC) of Abu-Dhabi has announced that the first captive-bred Houbara bustard are nesting in the countries deserts for the first time for decades.

According to NARC the discovery of three Houbara chicks in the desert has proven that the bird can breed in the country’s wild.

The Houbara was captive-bred at NARC in Suweihan and released in the desert as part of the centre’s conservation programme for the bird.

The programme was launched by Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, 18 years ago to preserve the endangered Houbara bustard from extinction, believing that the UAE can provide a suitable habitat for these birds if provided with the appropriate conditions.

‘The incident, unique of its own, marks an unprecedented scientific and historic record as no evidence of Houbara nesting has been reported in the UAE for many decades,’ he said.

According to Wikipedia, Asian Houbara bustard are now considered to be a separate species, MacQueen’s bustard.

For ex-situ conservation ends, biological diversity of the Houbara and Macqueen’s Bustards occurring at the Palearctic ecozone, was assessed at several hierarchical levels including species, subspecies, genes, and metapopulations: here.