Nubian Bustard Neotis nuba Scientific name definitions

Male 70 cm, 5400 g; female 50 cm, no data on weight. Upperparts pale tawny buff, lightly vermiculated with black, tail similar but washed grey; crown as back, bordered by black line; face whitish, chin and throat black, neck pale grey, lower hindneck and sides of breast tawny buff; rest of underparts whitish; legs and bill pale yellow. Female smaller than male with much less black on chin and throat. Immature similar to adult, but black on head is browner, and amount of black on throat reduced to thin stripe.

Sahel zone from W Mauritania to E Sudan; distribution probably continuous, or at least with interbreeding populations, even though species very patchily recorded.

Arid and semi-arid scrub and savanna on desert fringes , penetrating further N into Sahara than other bustard species.

Little known. Gives a shrill 'magur' call (1 Mackworth-Praed, C. W., and C. H. B. Grant (1970). African Handbook of Birds. Series Three. Birds of West Central and Western Africa. Volume 1. Longman, London, UK. Close ).

Jul–Oct; the finding of 3 nests in one day in Aug suggests synchronized response to suitable conditions (as well as degree of local abundance). Nest situated on bare sand; one nest was between forks of a fallen branch. Eggs 2. Chick has buff down striped brown and black. No further information available.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. Suspected to be undergoing moderately rapid population decline owing to intense hunting in parts of its range, latterly by visitors from the Middle East, in combination with habitat degradation. Apparently still fairly common in many places, although hunting may be causing substantial regression in parts of its vast, if latitudinally compressed, range. Only one record from Nigeria, a pair sighted in 1959. Rare and very little known in Sudan. Formerly widespread in Mauritania, with groups of 15–20 birds recorded, but has recently declined severely in the W African Sahel (2 Thiollay, J.-M. (2006). Severe decline of large birds in the Northern Sahel of West Africa: a long-term assessment. Bird Conservation International. 16(4): 353–365. Close ).