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Bustards, including floricans and korhaans, are large, terrestrial birds living mainly in dry grassland areas and in steppe regions. They range in length from Template:Convert. They make up the family Otididae (Template:IPAc-en, formerly known as Otidae).<ref name="IOC">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Bustards are omnivorous and opportunistic, eating leaves, buds, seeds, fruit, small vertebrates, and invertebrates.<ref name="HBW3">del Hoyo, J. Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1996) Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions. Template:ISBN</ref> There are 26 species currently recognised.
EtymologyEdit
The word bustard comes from the Old French bistarda and some other languages: abetarda (pt), abetarda (gl), avutarda (es) used for the great bustard. The naturalist William Turner listed the English spelling "bustard" and "bistard" in 1544.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
All of the common names above are derived from Latin avis tarda or aves tardas given by Pliny the Elder,<ref name=pliny>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn these names were mentioned by the Pierre Belon in 1555 and Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1600.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The word tarda comes from tardus in Latin meaning "slow" and "deliberate",<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> which is apt to describe the typical walking style of the species.<ref name=eol>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
FloricansEdit
Some Indian bustards are also called floricans. The origin of the name is unclear. Thomas C. Jerdon writes in The Birds of India (1862)
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I have not been able to trace the origin of the Anglo-Indian word Florikin, but was once informed that the Little Bustard in Europe was sometimes called Flanderkin. Latham gives the word Flercher as an English name, and this, apparently, has the same origin as Florikin.{{#if:Jerdon's Birds of India, 2nd ed. ii. 625.|{{#if:|}}
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The Hobson-Jobson dictionary, however, casts doubt on this theory stating that
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We doubt if Jerdon has here understood Latham correctly. What Latham writes is, in describing the Passarage Bustard, which, he says, is the size of the Little Bustard: Inhabits India. Called Passarage Plover. ... I find that it is known in India by the name of Oorail; by some of the English called Flercher. (Suppt. to Gen. Synopsis of Birds, 1787, 229). Here we understand the English to be the English in India, and Flercher to be a clerical error for some form of floriken.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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TaxonomyEdit
Template:See also The family Otididae was introduced (as Otidia) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Otididae and before that Otidae come from the genus Otis given to the great bustard by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae in 1758,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> it comes from the Greek word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ōtis.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Family Otididae<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Citation needed
| Image | Genus | Living species |
|---|---|---|
| File:Black-bellied Bustard.jpg | Lissotis Reichenbach 1848 |
|
| File:Denham's Bustard (Neotis denhami) (7083219537).jpg | Neotis Sharpe 1893 |
|
| File:Great Indian Bustard from DNP (cropped).jpg | Ardeotis Le Maout 1853 |
|
| File:Little Bustard (Tetrax tetrax), Castuera, Extremadura, Spain.jpg | Tetrax Forster 1817 |
|
| File:Drop fúzatý (Otis tarda) (2416576086).jpg | Otis Linnaeus 1758 |
|
| File:Chlamydotis macqueenii.jpg | Chlamydotis Lesson 1839 |
|
| File:Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis bengalensis (cropped).jpg | Houbaropsis Sharpe 1893 |
|
| File:Male Lesser Florican (crop).jpg | Sypheotides Lesson 1839 |
|
| File:Red-crested Korhaan (Lophotis ruficrista) male (13799426305), crop.jpg | Lophotis Reichenbach 1848 |
|
| File:Karoo Korhaan (Eupodotis vigorsii) (31800692824).jpg | Heterotetrax Sharpe 1894 |
|
| File:Blue Korhaan (Eupodotis caerulescens) male.jpg | Eupodotis Lesson 1839 |
|
| File:Northern black korhaan (Afrotis afraoides) male.jpg | Afrotis Gray 1855 |
|
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- Extinct genera
- Genus †Gryzaja Zubareva 1939
- †Gryzaja odessana Zubareva 1939
- Genus †Ioriotis Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua 1981
- †Ioriotis gabunii Burchak-Abramovich & Vekua 1981
- Genus †Miootis Umanskaya 1979
- †Miootis compactus Umanskaya 1979
- Genus †Pleotis Hou 1982
- †Pleotis liui Hou 1982
DescriptionEdit
Bustards are all fairly large with the two largest species, the kori bustard (Ardeotis kori) and the great bustard (Otis tarda), being frequently cited as the world's heaviest flying birds. In both the largest species, large males exceed a weight of Template:Convert, weigh around Template:Convert on average and can attain a total length of Template:Convert. The smallest species is the little brown bustard (Eupodotis humilis), which is around Template:Convert long and weighs around Template:Convert on average. In most bustards, males are substantially larger than females, often about 30% longer and sometimes more than twice the weight. They are among the most sexually dimorphic groups of birds. In only the floricans is the sexual dimorphism the reverse, with the adult female being slightly larger and heavier than the male.Template:Citation needed
The wings have 10 primaries and 16–24 secondary feathers. There are 18–20 feathers in the tail. The plumage is predominantly cryptic.<ref name="HBW3"/>
Behaviour and ecologyEdit
Bustards are omnivorous, feeding principally on seeds and invertebrates. They make their nests on the ground, making their eggs and offspring often very vulnerable to predation. They walk steadily on strong legs and big toes, pecking for food as they go. Most prefer to run or walk over flying. They have long broad wings with "fingered" wingtips, and striking patterns in flight. Many have interesting mating displays, such as inflating throat sacs or elevating elaborate feathered crests. The female lays three to five dark, speckled eggs in a scrape in the ground, and incubates them alone.<ref name=EoB>Template:Cite book</ref>
EvolutionEdit
Genetic dating indicates that bustards evolved Template:Circa 30 million years ago in either southern or eastern Africa from where they dispersed into Eurasia and Australia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Status and conservationEdit
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Bustards are gregarious outside the breeding season, but are very wary and difficult to approach in the open habitats they prefer.<ref name="bota">Bota, G., J. Camprodon, S. Mañosa & M.B. Morales (Editores). (2005). Ecology and Conservation of steppe-land birds. Lynx Editions. Barcelona Template:ISBN; 978-84-87334-99-3.</ref> Most species are declining or endangered through habitat loss and hunting, even where they are nominally protected.
United KingdomEdit
The birds were once common and abounded on the Salisbury Plain. They had become rare by 1819 when a large male, surprised by a dog on Newmarket Heath, sold in Leadenhall Market for five guineas.<ref>The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol.III, London, (1847) Charles Knight, p.963</ref> The last bustard in Britain died in approximately 1832, but the bird is being reintroduced through batches of chicks imported from Russia.<ref name="bota"/> In 2009, two great bustard chicks were hatched in Britain for the first time in more than 170 years.<ref name=birdguides>Bird Guides 2009. The first Great Bustard chicks in the UK Bird Guides, June 2009.</ref> Reintroduced bustards also hatched chicks in 2010.<ref>Biodiversity Lab 2010. Reintroduced Great Bustards Breed Again Template:Webarchive The Biodiversity Lab, University of Bath.</ref>
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Bota, Gerard, et al. Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-Land Birds. International Symposium on Ecology and Conservation of Steppe-land birds. Lynx Edicions 2005. 343 pages. Template:ISBN.
- Template:Cite EB1911
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
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External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- Bustard videos on the Internet Bird Collection