Sachokchin And Mendee Lose Their Clutches

Sachokchin and Mendee, two of the female great bustards we’re monitoring with satellite transmitter backpacks, are trying their best to raise a family at their breeding grounds in northern Mongolia. Satellite transmissions reveal that both birds incubated nests for about two weeks in early June—only to abandon them. This often happens when the nest is predated (by crows or foxes), or eggs are crushed by livestock or farm machinery.

June 2014

Photo: M. Kessler