Bustard Forum: ENVIS-BNHS

Some interesting reads regarding bustard conservation:

Rahmani, A.R. (2006): Need to start Project Bustards. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai. Pp.20.
A report of the workshop on Conservation of critically endangered Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps through involvement of local people at Solapur, Maharashtra (March 2011)

(Photo Credit: Dr. Asad R. Rahmani)

Bustard Forum

There are many Indian bird species moving to the brink of extinction as a result of the various factor including anthropological disturbances. All the Bustard species occur in Indian subcontinent are in great danger and comes under threatened category as listed below. Majority of them are endemic to Indian subcontinent and are in need of strong conservation efforts by all of us.

List of bustard species found in India

1) Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis Status: Critically endangered
2) Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus Status: Endangered
3) Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps Status: Endangered
4) Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax Status: Near Threatened	no image available
5) Great Bustard Otis tarda Status: Vulnerable
6) McQueen’s Bustard (Houbara) Chlamydotis macqueeni Status: Vulnerable

Numbers of all the above mentioned species had already declined in the pre-independence era as a result of relentless ‘game’ hunting and human encroachment in their prime habitat. Once found widely spread across the Indian subcontinent, these birds can now be found only in certain grassland pockets of the subcontinent. Though various scientists have studied their distribution and habitat ecology, a full knowledge of their exact population and movement patterns has not been established. Their local movement between seasons is yet to be understood. Taking advantage of the internet, ENVIS Centre on Avian Ecology, BNHS is planning to start a Bustard Forum under the supervision of Dr. Asad Rahmani, Project Coordinator, ENVIS Centre and Director, BNHS. We collected all the available references on the Bustards from BNHS library and in next step the quantitative data will be extracted from the literature. In further step recent sighting records will be uploaded on the website.

The forum will be linked to the website of the ENVIS Centre, BNHS and be moderated solely by the ENVIS staff. Through this forum we expect to develop an authentic database based on observations of Bustards from ornithologists and birdwatchers all over the world. Researchers, conservationists, government and forest officials are welcome to give their inputs. Our primary goal being collection of authentic data which will be properly verified and then be posted on the forum along with due credits to the observer. We know there are many of people from who are keenly interested in bird conservation and keeping the updates of the bustards from the local regions. We are trying to connect all such groups and provide a platform to share their experience and knowledge through Bustard forum.

The outcome of this collective effort will hopefully help in determining the current distribution areas and movement patterns in the bustards. This forum is also expected to serve as a platform for bringing out unpublished data to the advantage of researchers. This data will definitely aid the Bustard conservation programme.

Contact: Sujit S. Narwade

Scientist-In-Charge

ENVIS Centre on Avian Ecology, BNHS

bnhs@envis.nic.in

sujitsnarwade@gmail.com