A special issue of the ornithological journal Sandgrouse contains seventeen articles focusing on the Great Bustard, including many authored by partners of the Eurasian Bustard Alliance! This set of articles constitutes a complete geographic coverage of the species’ range in Central Asia, with additional coverage in the Caucasus and Turkey. Each article contains a population estimate, assessment of threats, and recommendations for conservation action.
The publication of this collection, was made possible through funding from Trust for Mutual Understanding as well as support from the Ornithological Society of the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia (OSME). An electronic copy of the special issue, with translations of abstracts into regional languages, is forthcoming. The special issue is edited by Dr Mimi Kessler and Dr Nigel Collar, Co-chairs of the IUCN Bustard Specialist Group.
You may download the entire special section here [pdf], or individual article reprints below.
• Mimi Kessler & Nigel Collar. Editors’ preface.
• Rahim Abdulkarimi. The Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is faced with extinction in Iran.
• Eldar Anverovich Rustamov. The Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is Critically Endangered in Turkmenistan.
• Roman Daniilovich Kashkarov, Yulia Olegovna Mitropolskaya & Anna Gennadyevna Ten. The historical and current status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Uzbekistan, a key winter refuge.
• Mimi Kessler & Fedor Grigorievich Bidashko. The historically abundant Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda is almost extirpated from western Kazakhstan.
• Maxim Koshkin, Aleksei Timoshenko & Albert Salemgareev. The diminished status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in central Kazakhstan.
• Georgiy Shakula, Fedor Shakula, Vladimir Shakula, Svetlana Baskakova & Mimi Kessler. Southern Kazakhstan is crucial to the survival of Central Asia’s remaining Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations.
• Georgiy Shakula, Fedor Shakula, Svetlana Baskakova & Mimi Kessler. A comprehensive review of records shows eastern Kazakhstan has multiple opportunities to conserve the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda year-round.
• Konstantin Pavlovich Prokopov. Breeding and migratory Great Bustards Otis tarda tarda persist in the Zaisan lake basin, eastern Kazakhstan.
• Rustam Sharifovich Muratov & Khursand Mirzoshoevich Talbonov. The near-extirpation of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda as a wintering and breeding species in Tajikistan.
• Sergei V Kulagin. Status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Kyrgyzstan.
• Aleksandr Alekseevich Nefedov. The urgent need for a transboundary steppe sanctuary to secure the last Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations in western Siberia and northern Kazakhstan.
• Muyang Wang & Weikang Yang. The diminishing status of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in Xinjiang province, north-west China.
• Zulfu Farajli. The loss of wintering Great Bustards Otis tarda tarda from the steppes of Azerbaijan.
• Viktor Fedosov & Gadzhibek Dzhamirzoyev. The steady decline of the Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda in the Russian Caucasus.
• Ïbrahіm Kaan Özgencіl, Melіsa Soyluer, Mehmet Mahіr Karataş & Ferdі Akarsu. Unconventional habitat choices by some Great Bustard Otis tarda tarda populations in Turkey.