Look! A Rare Bird Species – The Great Bustard – 'Returns to the Scene' in Huaiyuan County
The Great Bustard mainly resides in grasslands, wetlands, and occasionally in fields foraging for food.
The adult Great Bustard's wingspan can reach 2 meters.
The Great Bustard has a thick neck and a head shape similar to that of an ostrich.
Although the Great Bustard weighs heavily, its flight posture is very relaxed.
According to Huanhe Morning Post reports on March 1st, reporter photographed a bird foraging in a field in Huaiyuan County, and after comparing it online, it was confirmed that it was a rare bird species – the Great Bustard, which had disappeared for many years and was a national key protected animal.
This Great Bustard is nearly 1 meter tall, with a gray head and neck, and brown-yellow back feathers with black and white horizontal stripes. It is known that the Great Bustard belongs to the order Casuariiformes and the family of Bustards, has two subspecies, and is a large ground-dwelling bird. The male has a body length exceeding 1 meter and weighs more than 10 kilograms, while the female is much smaller. The common subspecies breeds in northern grasslands, fields, and semi-arid areas, and winters in eastern China. According to Professor Zhi Zhou, Dean of the College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, the Great Bustard is a national key protected animal. Due to habitat destruction and excessive hunting, the population of Great Bustards has rapidly decreased and is listed as a rare species in China's Red Book of Rare Animals.
There are reports that the number of Great Bustards in China is about 300, which is as rare as the Giant Panda. In recent years, it has disappeared from this province. Professor Zhou said that after several decades, the Great Bustard was rediscovered in the Huaihe River region, filling a blank in Anhui's ecological map, which has positive significance for studying the distribution patterns of the species and taking effective protection measures. It is of great significance for the scientific research of wild animals in Anhui and the ecological construction of ecological Anhui.
