Great bustard. (source: TASR archive)
Ornithologists have discovered a great bustard’s nest for the first time in 12 years. The bird is the most endangered species in Slovakia, making it a significant find.
The nesting of the great bustard is exceptionally rare in Slovakia. Ornithologists have discovered its nest in May, in the Protected Bird Area (CHVÚ) Sysľovské polia near Bratislava, the TASR newswire reported.
The last entries of the great bustard’s nesting were noted for the year 2010, the birds not appearing since. This year, according to Jozef Ridzoň of the Slovak Ornithologist Association, monitoring demonstrated the nesting of two to five chicks of the great bustard in Sysľovské polia.
The great bustard population used to be widespread in Slovakia. Monitoring demonstrated 1,165 chicks in Slovakia in 1956. Great bustards need a lot of food and peace to thrive, explains Jozef Chavko of Raptor Protection.
“Studies have shown that the birds are able to get used to heavy machines moving around them, that they do not mind humans in vehicles. On the other hand, birds are distressed by cyclists, people on walks or roller-skates. That causes them to fly away,” Chavko told the TASR newswire.
Project Life Steppe On the Border, uniting bird protection and ornithologists’ organisations, plans to transform Sysľovské polia into intensively cultivated grasslands, which will improve the birds’ lives, noted Ridzoň. It is a cooperative attempt to save the great bustard from extinction.
