We’ve read those stories ofrecent extinctions — Sudan,the last male northern whiterhino and Brazil’s Spix’s ma-caws — with much consterna-tion. But closer home, a taleof extinction may be unfold-ing before our very eyes: theGreat Indian Bustard, thatnarrowly missed being chris-tened India’s national bird, isnow teetering on its last legs.Several threats — includingpower lines — are decimatingbustard populations. India,eff��ectively the only home ofthe bustards, now harboursless than 150 individuals infi��ve States.

Game birdWhat changed after 1969,when over 1,000 of theselarge, stately birds stillroamed the dry grasslands of11 Indian States? While hunt-ing was probably one of the

fi��rst factors (the bird was apopular game bird and still isin some pockets, despite be-ing listed in Schedule I of In-dia’s Wildlife Protection Act),bustard habitats have under-gone tremendous change ov-er the last decades.

The untamed, arid grass-lands that bustards thrive inare categorised as ‘waste-lands’, like most grasslandhabitats in India. The push tomake these areas more ‘pro-ductive’ has seen an increasein water availability in theseparts, resulting in the spillov-er of agricultural land intobustard habitats. Yet thebirds do rely on agriculturalfi��elds too, suggests the onlystudy of their diets to date: inthe mid 1980s, researchersfound that though they arepredominantly insect-eaters,bustards “relished” arugulaplants and ate cultivatedBengal gram and Ziziphus orber berries.

More recent but unpu-blished data also suggeststhat the wide-ranging birdsdisperse to agricultural land-scapes near Gujarat’sKachchh during the non-breeding season. Yet, inten-sifi��cation of agriculture — in-cluding more pesticides,barbed-wire fences and newcrops — could endanger the

birds’ survival in thislandscape.

More recently, what re-mains of their grasslandhomes are now sites for re-newable power projects.With new wind turbines,come more power lines totake the ‘green’ energy togrids and homes.

Bustards, with their poorfrontal vision and heavy bo-dies, cannot manoeuvreaway from cables in time. Ona survey over the last year,the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) found four bustardscharred to death due to colli-sions with power lines in theThar landscape alone. Theirreport published in Octobersuggests that around 18 bus-tards are likely to die everyyear (from a population ofaround 128 in the Thar) dueto high-tension cables thatintersect priority bustardhabitat here. The situation isso dire that three non-profi��ts

— the Corbett Foundation,Conservation India andSanctuary Nature Founda-tion — have initiated an on-line petition (which has al-ready garnered more than6,000 signatures) to UnionPower Minister R.K. Singh todemand that power lines berouted underground.

But apart from powercompanies and the govern-ment, local communities arethe primary stakeholdershere, says Sutirth Dutta, fa-culty at the WII, who hasbeen studying bustards for10 years now.

Breeding centre“A landscape-level approachthat will incentivise peopleto take up less intensive agri-culture is required,” he said.

Talks for a bustard conser-vation breeding centre in Ra-jasthan are ongoing, andland will soon be allotted, headds.

The Indian bustard: on its last legs?Several threats — including power lines — are sealing the fate of these charismatic birdsAathira PerincheryKochi

The bird has disappearedfrom 90% of its originalhabitat. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT