The Great Indian Bustard
The Vanishing Monarch of the Grasslands
What once roamed like a feathered king or queen across the wide, shimmering deserts of the Indian subcontinent is now a ghostly figure that haunts rain-starved grasslands. With its majestic appearance and kingly gait,
the Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) is a bird that appears to have lifted the clear skies on its wings. It is a creature as outlandish as the giant long-legged partridge it so much resembles, or the camel-bird its name implies — both for its stoic presence in inhospitable environments and for being an animal of mythic proportions and tragic contemporary reality. Once common throughout the plains of India and Pakistan,
it now hovers on the brink of extinction, its eerie whistle a fading sound amid the shrinking grasslands. This is the story of a bird and more than a species, but also a living symbol of an ecosystem that is disappearing.
Kingdom of the Ghost Bird
Habits, Habitat and Range
Great Indian Bustard is a bird of vast open space. It is an obligate of the short grass, semi-arid alpine Bugyals or Beth ecosystems. These are not verdant green pastures, but barren, beautiful terrains where the earth cracks under the sun and the horizon seems to remain unbroken.
Historial Empire: Its empire spanned over 80% of the Indian subcontinent dry grasslands, from the Eastern foothills of Indus River comprising the modern-day Pakistani province’s and Jammu & Kashmir region (India), into all countries now located in India across to Indus Valley along with its tributaries including states such as Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Rajasthan. It was an abundant,would never be called a common, resident of these vast steppes.
Last Strongholds: Today, its territory has catastrophically shrunk. More than 90% of the world population now resides in a single Indian state, primarily in the Desert National Park (DNP) near Jaisalmer. Others fragmented, minuscule populations remain in:
Gujarat: Decan thorn forests of Kutch ( Naliya area) and the neighbouring districts.
Maharashtra: Solapur and Chandrapur regions.
Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh Isolated small, if not non-viable population in the Rollapadu Wildlife Sanctuary and adjoining areas.
Pakistan: Possibly an insignificantly small and critically endangered eastern sub-population is extant in the Cholistan and Thar desert area of Sindh’ and; Punjab provinces. Few have seen it and validation is hard.
Habitat Details The GIB avoids thick forests, tall grasslands and heavily cultivated lands. It does well in landscapes where low grasses (for example, Sehima and Dichanthium) grow in a mosaic along with scattered bushes (Capparis, Ziziphus) and bare ground for ease of movement and visibility. The grasslands themselves frequently are also characterised by seasonally produced millets and pulses as additional sources of food.
Behavioural characteristics GIB is a terrestrial, crypto specie and shows exceptional timidity – a feature that paradoxically hasn’t shielded it from human-induced encumbrances.
Flight Although a heavy bird, it is a strong if somewhat clumsy flier. It flies slow with the neck extended and legs trailing. It likes to travel on foot and walking or running a long distance appeals it.
courting Its mating dance is one of the amazing shows in nature. He then inflates his gular pouch (a fleshy neck sac), throws back his head until it rests on his back, puffs out his white feathers and raises the tail over the body and he’s a brilliant white fluffball. He supplements this with a low, rumbling, booming call that can travel for kilometers — a love song to a vanishing world.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Generally solitary, or in small, loose colonies groupings are more common at breeding colonies and around concentrations of nutrient-rich food.
The Anatomy of a Giant Appearance and Color
The Great Indian Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. An adult male will measure up to 1 meter (3.3 feet) tall, weigh between 15-18 kg (33-40 lbs), and have a wingspan of more than 2.1 meters (7 ft). Females are much smaller, approximately one third the weight.
Colour – The great art of the Chameleon: In cryptic coloration its plumage would beat any master’s, matching perfectly with the dry tawny ground.
Head and Neck The head is shiny black with a distinctly glossy black crown, in contrast to the pale sandy buff neck. A broad black band crosses the breast which separates the neck from body.
Body The back and wings are a closely vermiculated (woven-like) blend of brown and black over buff, giving the perfect grass-land pattern. The undercue is a uniform pale buffish white.
Identification Aside from the striking black crown, white supercilium, and black breast band. In flight the large wings display a prominent white patch on the primaries of each wing (outermost wing feathers), while the remainder are mainly dark brown.
Legs and bill The legs are long, yellowish for striding. The bill is thick and horn colored in pale.
This blend of size and concealment makes it look like a plodding, elegant feature of the landscape: a mirage that hardens into a bird.
The Omnivorous Grazer’s Diet: Feeding Ecology
Ecology The Great Indian Bustard is an opportunist feeder (an omnivore), its diet varies with season and availability, indicating seasonal influence of the grassland cycle.
Primary Plant Diet: Vegetarian (includes a variety of plant foods) majority of the time, especially outside breeding season. This includes:
Grass, Legumes and Cultivated Crop Seeds: From grasses, legumes and cultivated crops (available as seed) e.g. Millet, Groundnut, Mustard etc.
Shoots and Leaves: young tender shoots of grasses and herbs, especially during monsoon.
Fruits and Flowers: Berries from shrubby plants, flowers of many kinds.
VITAL ANIMAL PROTEIN: Animal and insect matter is a must, especially for growing chicks and breeding adults. This includes:
Insects: Beetles (including blister beetles, which may be poisonous but still eaten), grasshoppers, locusts and crickets.
Small Vertebrates: Lizards (even a large one if squeezed), small snakes (e.g., saw-scaled vipers) and rats.
Other: Scorpions, centipedes, and mollusks.
Foraging and Feeding It feeds on the ground or low in foliage by walking slowly, picking items from the surface of the ground or low on plants. With such keen eyesight, it is alert to even the slightest movement. It has the tendency to follow tractors when plowing to eat the exposed insects and grubs – a habit that frequently kills it in conflict with modern agriculture.
The Brink of Silence Rarece,
Threats and Conservation Warfare
The Great Indian Bustard is categorised as “Critically Endangered” by the IUCN, just one step away from “Extinct in the Wild” and then “Extinct”. It is believed to number just 100-150 worldwide, with the effective population size possibly less than 100. This is more than a 90% decrease in the last 50 years. Why its decline has been so quick is a textbook study in anthropogenic doom.
The Primary Executioner
Powerline Collisions It’s now the leading cause of adult mortality today. The GIB is blind on the front and has a bad, low-flying habit it can never escape to avoid the killing cobweb of overhead power lines and wind turbines spread across its habitat. Interrupted by these obstructions, it travels at a high velocity and the impact causes injury or death. “Each adult death represents a devastating loss for a population of such low numbers.”
Stealing a Kingdom
Loss and Degradation of Habitat
Habitat: The large-scale clearing of native grasslands for irrigated agriculture(huge cotton/wheat/sugarcane sites in pastures), which by and large has fried his home. Even “Protected Areas” are often denuded with invasive species such as Prosopis juliflora (vilayati keekar).
Industrial and Infrastructure development: Mines, road network, solar parks, industries dissect and irreversibly destroy the grassland ecosystems.
Overgrazing: Commercial grazing which is not carefully managed reduces grass and competes for food in the turtles environment.
Historical and Persistent Threats
Hunting: Although greatly diminished, occasional hunting for sport or meat still takes place.
Eggs are eaten by feral dogs, foxes, mongooses, and monitors in a large proportion. The bird’s ground-nesting technique, adapted in a habitat with few natural predators, has proved to be its most lethal liability.
Perturbation: Human activities such as livestock tending, vehicle disturbances, and even well-meaning tourists can result in nest abandonment.
The Conservation Battlefront
The battle to rescue the GIB is a complicated, multi-faceted and time critical war.
Habitat Protection/Management: Safeguarding and actively managing core grassland tracts are essential. Among those are the Desert National Park (Rajasthan) and the Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in Maharashtra’s Solapur. Management Management measures include the use of controlled grazing and cutting, removal of invasive plants and provision of undisturbed breeding sites.
Address Power Line Mortality: The most urgent, technical challenge. The action plan to be implemented and promoted consist of:
Underground Cabling: The most efficient but costliest remedy is to place power lines underground through important GIB habitats.
Bird DivertersPlacement of reflective or flashing devices on existing wires to enhance visibility to birds.
Re-routing: Designing new power infrastructure around known GIB territories.
Captive Breeding and Reintroduction: The Hail Mary of high-stakes tactics. Under the joint aegis of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Rajasthan Forest Department, efforts were put in place to breed GIBs under captivity at the Great Indian Bustard Captive Breeding Centre in Sam
, Rajasthan, considering how extremely challenging it is to do so. Through methods such as artificial incubation and hand-rearing, they hope to produce a population which can one day be re-introduced into safe environments. The first chick that hatched, in 2019, was a landmark occasion.
Community Engagement: It is imperative to involve local pastoral communities like Maldharis. Initiatives that offer incentives (reaping the rewards of ecotourism, engaging local communities with conservation as protectors and addressing issues related to livestock) are key to securing a long-term future.
Legal and policy advocacy: The bird is listed under Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 providing it the highest legal protection.
The groups working to protect the birds are consistently lobbying for more stringent rules on where renewable energy is sited, as well as grassland conservation.
More than a Bird, A Testament
The Great Indian Bustard is not just a bird that is struggling to keep its head above water; it’s the flagship species of the Indian grasslands.
Its fate is tied to the fate of this entire, unloved ecosystem, which harbors its own special swirl of blackbucks and wolves and hundreds of species of birds. Because to save the GIB is to save a way of life, a landscape and an important carbon sink.
Its quiet passing is an indictment of our choices to develop, for development’s sake—unfettered linear development versus respect and support for nature. This deep boom from the displaying male is more than just a mating call; it is an alarm call for India’s wild spaces.
The plight of the Great Indian Bustard is a story of worlds in conflict against the clock, and two sides pitted in politics and history, technology and values. Whether or not this crowned bird flies as if to hold on to —
turns out only we all get a say in its story will once again be told or relegated to the annals of memory depends entirely on how urgently and authentically we decide that our actions today will write its future. In its survival is the hope for all of the rest of the forgotten, open spaces in this world.