Species and Biotope Conservation The Great Bustard – the Brandenburg Ostrich 1 The Great Bustard – the Brandenburg Ostrich 2 The Great Bustard – the Brandenburg ostrich The Great Bustard – the Brandenburg ostrich 3 Contents The Great Bustard – has it been saved? 5 The Brandenburg Ostrich 6 Once a steppe bird ... today on fields and in meadows 6 Once in their thousands in Brandenburg ... today a rare bird 8 Great Bustards looking for a mate ... and with successful mating 12 Males go travelling ... flight from hard winters 18 Help in situ ... and international responsibilities 20 Looking outside the box 22 Bustard friendly habitats 24 Please do not disturb! 26 The artificial sitter 27 Under pressure 29 Great Bustard in Conflict 31 Wings in the wind 32 How can YOU help the Great Bustard? 34 A feast for the eyes: observing bustards 38 Buckow: the cradle of Brandenburg Great Bustard conservation 40 Hand in Hand 42 Additional information 44 Literature, websites, addresses 46 Imprint 48 Did you know ... that an old Great Bustard male can be as heavy as a roe deer, weighing up to 17 kilograms? The great bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. Not only that, but the difference in weight between the male and female great bustard is grea- ter than that of any other bird species in the world. 4 The Great Bustard – the Brandenburg ostrich Foreword 5 The Great Bustard – has it been saved? Brandenburg’s Bustard is famous. In the 1990s lands, Denmark, Great Britain and beyond to see our heaviest species of bird even became popular the impressive droves of Bustards in the fields. The abroad. When the Ministry for Environment travel- highlight, however, is the spectacular courtship in led to London in order to present landscapes and spring. The Bustard population in the last three birdlife of Brandenburg their hosts in Britain were remaining Great Bustard areas is increasing and especially keen on the Great Bustards. Indeed, they these areas demonstrate that agriculture, nature had Bustard Pubs there as well as Bustard Ale, but conservation and hunting can all successfully co- the Bustards had vanished 160 years before. exist. Our objective is to continue and maintain this conservation success. Beyond the professional sphere the “Markish Ostrich” (called after the former “Mark Branden- Jörg Vogelsänger burg”) became an ambassador of the Brandenburg Minister for Rural Development, Environment and landscapes. Visitors come from all over Germany, Agriculture of the Federal State of Brandenburg and international visitors come from the Nether- Did you know ... earlier the Great Bus- tard was considered big game and could only be hunted by the kaisers, kings, and Courtship display of a Great Bustard male nobility? The admini- strators of the king’s court hunt recorded 820 bustards killed by hunting in Prussia in the year 1900. 6 Habitat and Biology Habitat and Biology 7 The Brandenburg Ostrich Historical prints Once a steppe bird ... ... today on fields and in meadows Although the species is able to get through the of Great Bustards: winter with just a few patches of rapeseed, it from “Brehms Tier- leben” (“Brehm’s The original habitats of the Great Bustard were Additional habitats came about in Central Europe belongs to the bird species with the most complex Animal Life”) 1893 wide-open steppe landscapes. Forest clearing in when the large fen mires were drained. Pure arable ecological requirements: large, open and undis- (above) ... as well the Middle Ages created fields, meadows, and land has lost its suitability for Great Bustards for a turbed areas without fragmentation and human as a bustard male heathlands – so-called “cultured steppes” – that long time. But neither is conventionally managed settlements, diverse vegetation rich in microstruc- (B. Morris in were attractive to the bustards and which they grassland an optimal habitat because of its cool tures with sparse, sunny patches and plenty of „British Game Birds th th and Wildfowl“, quickly settled. In the 18 and 19 centuries the and moist microclimate and the respective vegeta- insects, spiders and other invertebrates. This mani- 1855) (below). large birds were a widely distributed species on the tion structure. Today the remaining bustard habi- fold and abundant arthropod fauna is essential for agricultural lands of Europe. Even Southern Sweden tats in Germany are a mix of fields and grassland the young in the first weeks of their life. and large parts of England were home to Great on fen mire ground. For decades now the coexis- Bustard populations. tence of fields and fen mires has characterized the habitat of the bustards in Germany. Did you know ... earlier the Great Bustard was called the Ackertrapp (Field Bustard) or Trappgans (bustard goose)? In Upper Wendish it was called “Dudak” and in Lower Wendish “gropun.” 8 Habitat and Biology Habitat and Biology 9 Once in their thousands in Brandenburg ... ... today a rare bird The intensification of agriculture since the middle of the 19th century fundamentally altered the agrarian landscape and destroyed the habitat of numerous plant and animal species including the Great Bustard. They disappeared from the farmland first and later from the marsh areas as more and more land were transformed into monotonous grassland. Bustard hunter in the Middle Ages, after GEWALT (1959). Distribution of the Great Bustard in Brandenburg in 1934, after GEWALT (1959). The so-called „Mark Brandenburg“ was always damage to agriculture. At the beginning of the 20th the stronghold of the Great Bustard in Germany. century school children still had to collect bustard In the 1970s and 80s the reproduction practical- The long life expectancy delayed the process of ex- That is why the bird is also known as the “Mär- eggs from the fields. ly broke down – even though a hundred or so tinction but could not prevent it completely – many kische Strauß” or Brandenburg Ostrich. While the individuals still lived there was hardly any offspring of the former strongholds became abandoned. Did you know ... the Great Bustard is authorities valued the bird for hunting and eating, In 1939 there were about 3,400 bustards living fledged. Many clutches were destroyed during the For decades conventional agriculture has not been still a game bird in the farmers complained about the damage to their in the then Mark Brandenburg, more than half of frequent agricultural operations, and the very few capable of maintaining Great Bustard habitats in Germany, however fields. For this reason one began to control the the German population. The population then sank chicks that hatched starved or became chilled in Germany. The species is dependent on conserva- with a year-round Great Bustards beginning in 1753 with the permis- rapidly in the following decades. the dense and humid vegetation. tion areas with special “bustard-friendly” farming close season? sion of Frederick II in order to reduce the practices and management concepts 10 Habitat and Biology Habitat and Biology 11 Causes for the decline of the Great Bustard ❚ increase in mowing and ❚ time between work processes ❚ large losses due to machine other work processes no longer sufficient for use (clutches, young and ❚ intensive fertilization breeding and rearing adult birds) ❚ ❚ 100 cm ❚ pesticides dense and high vegetation lacking sunny areas for with unfavorable microclimate the chicks ❚ soil compaction ❚ low vegetation diversity ❚ high resistance to their 75 cm ❚ high livestock densities movement ❚ decline in invertebrates ❚ large-scale monocultures (number of species and ❚ starvation due to acute lack 50 cm ❚ loss of fallow land biomass) of invertebrates 25 cm 0 cm Only extensively managed meadows (right), arable land and fallow ground offer enough food for great bustard chicks; they have no chance of survival in high, dense, intensively used grassland (left). The photo (below) shows an area of arable ground which is particularly rich in insects. 12 Habitat and Biology Habitat and Biology 13 Great Bustards looking for a mate ... The courtship of Great Bustards is a spectacular lay their eggs. Following a Spanish radio-tracking stu- event. The males first strutting over the fields appear dy, the nest sites were on average eight kilometres Great Bustards do not live in pairs, but in repro- to grow in size and change their colour from brown away from the display ground, and maximum even ductive communities, internationally known as to white. This is done by ruffling the feathers and 54 kilometres. Males play no part in the nesting or “leks”. In the old days these could comprise up to inflating a special balloon-like structure in the neck. care for the young. The incubation and rearing of Did you know ... 130 birds covering a territory of 30 to 80 square The wing feathers are twisted forward and fan out, the chicks is carried out by the female alone. during the court- ship the heart rate kilometres. and the tail is cocked right up and over onto the of the males can back. The head, with the long, white whiskers Females appear to visit several males before copula- reach 900 beats Outside the breeding season males and females pushed upwards, is drawn onto the back. The dis- ting and seem to be very selective in their choice of per minute? live in separate groups (“droves”) with the juveniles playing male stomps his feet and swings his inflated mate. Mating success is strongly skewed, with the of the previous brood staying with their mothers. neck. Looking like a big, bright flower the male is majority of matings performed by a small proportion It is only during the display and mating season able to attract females at a distance of several kilo- of males at a lek site. The older males are responsi- that males and females come together, but no pair metres.