{"id":49504,"date":"2025-12-02T12:58:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T10:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/the-great-bustard-back-in-the-spotlight\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T13:14:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T11:14:49","slug":"the-great-bustard-back-in-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/en\/the-great-bustard-back-in-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great bustard back in the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We recently shared news about the <a href=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/en\/when-support-disappears-and-with-it-the-great-bustard\/\"><strong>disappearance of an important refuge for Great bustards<\/strong><\/a> in the Salonta area (Bihor County), which <strong>threatens the survival of Romania\u2019s only viable Great bustard population<\/strong>.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#13;\n<\/span><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-scaled.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-1024x410.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-1024x410.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-768x307.jpg 768w, https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-1536x615.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-2048x820.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_4606-600x240.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Photo: Attila Nagy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Romania is far from alone in facing this challenge. <strong>Steppe birds<\/strong> \u2013 including the Great bustard \u2013 are among the bird groups <strong>currently experiencing the steepest population declines<\/strong>, a major cause for conservation concern. The <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Otididae<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> family is particularly vulnerable, as many of its species share agricultural habitats with humans and therefore <strong>require active conservation measure<\/strong>s.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Great bustard<\/strong> (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Otis tarda<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) and the <strong>Little bustard<\/strong> (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tetrax tetrax<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) are two well-known species from this family that inhabit the Palearctic region, an area under high anthropogenic pressure, land-use change, and agricultural intensification. As previous <strong>LIFE projects<\/strong> in Central Europe have shown, it is still possible to successfully protect these two species through the implementation of key conservation measures. Although <strong>the European Great bustard population has declined by one third in just 11 years<\/strong>, the Western Pannonian population (Austria, western part of Hungary and Slovakia) has more than doubled during the same period.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building on 25 years of successful Great Bustard conservation experience in Central Europe, the large-scale <strong>LIFE EUROBUSTARD<\/strong> initiative aims to halt the ongoing decline of both the Great Bustard and the Little Bustard across Europe.<\/span><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/&#xA9;&#xFE0F;Nagy-Attila.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/milvus.ro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/&#xA9;&#xFE0F;Nagy-Attila.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-49491\"\/><\/a><\/figure><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The project \u201c<strong>Cross-border Protection of the Great bustard and the Little bustard in Europe\u201d<\/strong>, carried out by 30 partners from 8 countries (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain) \u2013 including the Milvus Group \u2013 <strong>focuses on three main action areas<\/strong>:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#13;\n<\/span><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>extensive habitat-improvement measures;<\/strong><\/li>\n\n<li><strong>\u00a0reducing mortality caused by collisions with overhead power lines;<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#13;\n<\/span><\/li>\n\n<li><strong>reducing mortality caused by agricultural machinery.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Milvus Group\u2019s activities will focus on protecting the last remaining Great bustard habitats<\/strong> in the Salonta area (Bihor County), near the Hungarian border.<\/span>&#13;\n&#13;\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within the framework of this project, our activities will focus exclusively on the conservation of the Great bustard, as, according to existing data, the Little bustard does not breed in Romania, it appears sporadically in migration and during winter in the southeastern part of the country, especially Dobruja.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We recently shared news about the disappearance of an important refuge for Great bustards in the Salonta area (Bihor County), which threatens the survival of Romania\u2019s only viable Great bustard population.&#13; However, Romania is far from alone in facing this challenge. Steppe birds \u2013 including the Great bustard \u2013 are among the bird groups currently 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