Little bustard

Little bustard
Male
Female
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Otididae
Genus:	Tetrax T. Forster, 1817
Species:	T. tetrax
Binomial name
Tetrax tetrax (Linnaeus, 1758)

The little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) is a large bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus Tetrax. It breeds in southern Europe and in western and central Asia. Southernmost European birds are mainly resident, but other populations migrate further south in winter. The central European population once breeding in the grassland of Hungary went extinct several decades ago.

This species is declining due to habitat loss throughout its range. It used to breed more widely, for example ranging north to Poland occasionally. It is only a very rare vagrant to Great Britain despite breeding in France.

Although the smallest Palearctic bustard, the little bustard is still pheasant-sized at 42–45 cm (17–18 in) long with a 90–110 cm (35–43 in) wingspan and a weight of 830 g (29 oz). In flight, the long wings are extensively white. The breeding male is brown above and white below, with a grey head and a black neck bordered above and below by white.

Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

The female and non-breeding male lack the dramatic neck pattern, and the female is marked darker below than the male. Immature bustards resemble females. Both sexes are usually silent, although the male has a distinctive "raspberry-blowing" call: prrt.

This species is omnivorous, taking seeds, insects, rodents and reptiles. Like other bustards, the male little bustard has a flamboyant display with foot stamping and leaping in the air. Females lay 3 to 5 eggs on the ground.

This bird's habitat is open grassland and undisturbed cultivation, with plants tall enough for cover. It has a stately slow walk, and tends to run when disturbed rather than fly. It is gregarious, especially in winter.

On 20 December 2013, the Cypriot newspapers 'Fileleftheros' and 'Politis', as well as news website 'SigmaLive', reported the discovery of a dead little bustard in the United Nations Buffer Zone. The bird had been shot by poachers hunting illegally in the zone. The shooting was particularly controversial amongst conservationists and birders since the little bustard is a very rare visitor to Cyprus and had not been officially recorded in Cyprus since December 1979.

External links

• Oiseaux.net Little bustard photos
• Little bustard videos, photos, and sounds at the Internet Bird Collection
• Little bustard photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Interactive range map of Tetrax tetrax at IUCN Red List maps
• BirdLife species factsheet for Tetrax tetrax
• Tetrax tetrax on Avibase
• Audio recordings of Little bustard on Xeno-canto.