Otis tarda
The Great Bustard, Otis tarda, is an awe-inspiring, magnificent bird, renowned as the heaviest flying animal on Earth, with males often weighing up to 18 kg (40 lbs) and standing over 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall, boasting a wingspan reaching 2.7 meters (9 ft). Females are considerably smaller, typically around 5 kg (11 lbs). Their plumage is a striking blend of sandy buff and brown on the back, a clean white belly, and a grey head and neck, with mature males developing distinctive long, bristly 'wh...
Open, expansive grasslands, steppes, and large arable fields constitute their primary habitat, typically found in low-lying plains or gently undulating terrain.
Their diet is omnivorous, consisting primarily of plants such as leaves, shoots, seeds, and clover, supplemented by a wide array of invertebrates like grasshoppers and beetles, and occasionally small vertebrates like lizards and rodents.
Great Bustards are primarily diurnal, spending much of their day foraging and often congregating in large, loose flocks outside the breeding season. They employ a ground-foraging strategy, walking slowly and deliberately to glean a wide variety of plant and animal matter. During the breeding seas...
The Great Bustard's current range is highly fragmented, spanning across the Palearctic from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to Central and Eastern Asia in the east. Major breeding strongholds exist in Spain and Portugal, as well as across parts of Eastern Europe (e.g., Hungary, Ukraine) and vas...
Vulnerable
- The Great Bustard is officially the heaviest flying bird in the world, with males weighing up to 18 kg (40 lbs). - Males perform one of the most spectacular courtship displays in the avian world, known as the 'foam bath,' where they invert their tail and fan their wings to reveal almost entirel...