The Great Bustard is a large bird of open grassland and farmland. Males and females differ in plumage and display.
Adult males show a russet neck and breast band with white cheek whiskers; females have more cryptic plumage.
A Turkey study combined five years of fieldwork with historical sightings and literature records to examine Great Bustard breeding numbers, distribution and movements. It estimated 559–780 breeding birds in the country, in two separate populations in the west and east.
Turkey’s breeding population was estimated to have declined 20–29% over five years, and its range was at least 60% smaller than at the start of the twentieth century. Historical records describe more than 80 localities and an earlier estimate of 3,000–4,000 breeding birds. Reported threats include illegal hunting, agricultural intensification, conversion to irrigated crops, overgrazing, power-line collisions and disturbance. The study proposed possible routes within and through Turkey.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Reported threats to Great Bustards in Turkey include illegal hunting, intensive agriculture, a shift to irrigated crops, overgrazing, power-line collisions and human disturbance.