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| Bengal Florican | Lesser Florican |Great Indian Bustard | Little Bustard | Great Bustard | | McQueen's Bustard (Houbara) | | News Section | |Literature Section| | Recent Posts | | | Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus(Miller, 1782)
(Photo credit: Dr. Asad R. Rahmani)
Classification
Vernacular names: Sind: Tanmur, Kharmur, Hindi: Leekh, Chhota charat/charaz, Barsati/Kala charaz or tuqdar, Bhil: Khar teetar, Ben: Chhota dahar, Likh, Guj: Khar mor, Khadmor, Kutch: Tiloor, Mar: Tanner, Ta: Warragu kozhi, Te: Nela nemali, Mal: Chatta kozhi, Kan: Kannoul, Kan: Chini mor
Identification characteristics: A small bustard with the typically longish bare legs and horizontal carriage of body. Male (breeding): Chiefly black and white with a tuft of narrow spatulate ended up-curving black black plumes projecting behind the head, three on either side. Male (winter: non-breeding): Similar to female with much white on wing. Female: Overall sandy buff, mottled and with blackish arrowhead marks on back. Two parallel blackish stripes down centre of throat and foreneck. Forehead and crown black with a pale median stripe or ‘centre parting’. No head plumes. Female is slightly larger than male. Chick: An almost uniform dirty pale yellow colour with colour with an unclosed V on the crown of the head in dingy black, and blotches, rather stripy, of black on the wing, back and side, and about the ears; legs and beak a colour between pale blue and pale pink and on the tip of the beak a little lump of pearly white.
Habitat: The Lesser Florican inhabits grasslands, areas with scattered bushes, cultivated tracts, open fields and grassland habitats within forest plantations. It seems to prefer dry grassy areas with low grazing pressure. The species shows strong breeding site-fidelity amongst males. In winter the species is known to also use lightly wooded country.
Distribution: Bird is Resident; irregular local migrant, and also nomadic in the rainy season. Occurs in Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, south through peninsula to Mysore and Madras; straggler to Kerala. Wandering erratically eastward through Uttar Pradesh, Nepal, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal to slightly east of Teesta river in Bhutan daurs.
Habits: Much less shy and wild than other bustards or Bengal Florican. When flushed usually flies a considerable distance, running on immediately upon alighting and difficult to flush a second time. Wing-beats are more rapid than other bustards and reminiscent of Red-wattled Lapwing. Normally relies for safety chiefly on lying low and running through cover.
Food: Insects of all kinds mainly grasshoppers, beetles; sometimes centipedes, lizards and frogs. Also feeds on vegetable matter: shoots of crops, grass and herbs, seeds, drupes & berries, e.g. Zyzipus. At certain season feeds largely on blister beetles, tainting the flesh which is otherwise highly esteemed as a table delicacy.
Breeding: July, August, September, as soon as sufficient grass cover become available in otherwise dry areas. Bird disperses to breed over vast tract of country in years of good rainfall. No special nest. Eggs normally 4, sometimes 3 or 5, laid on the bare ground often crops. Colour of egg is some shade of brown, variously mottled, streaked and blotched with brown. On circumstantial evidence male promiscuous, like Bengal Florican, attracting individual ready-to-breed females by its well know springing display, mating with them, and taking no further interest in raising the family. The attraction or advertisement display serves to repel rivals from territory and attract eligible hens. The cock flexes its legs and springs perpendicularly in the air to a height of 2 or 3 meters depending on the surrounding area. At the apogee the neck is arched backwards till almost resting on the back and utters a guttural frog-like croak. The wings are partially open level with the body and fluttering rapidly, the legs pulled in as in the sitting position. The bird then floats down vertically to the starting point, tail spread, legs gradually lowered for landing and often kicked forward and back as if running on air, to steady itself. A complete spring occupies 4 or 5 seconds and is repeated. Activity is most intense in the early morning and late afternoons, but continues more or less throughout the day if cloudy and drizzly.
Threats: Severe hunting pressure, particularly of males for sport and also food, precipitated its decline. More recently, declines have been caused by rapid reductions in the area of grassland owing to conversion for agriculture and overgrazing. In addition, the rapid spread of the non-native Prosopis glandulosa threatens habitat quality. Over the last two decades, unreliable monsoon rains have caused significant population fluctuations.
Conservation measures: In 1983, Rajasthan declared a ban on hunting this species, effective for 10 years, and local people were employed in a scheme to prevent hunting in Madhya Pradesh. In 1994, a conservation strategy was published, which proposed management recommendations for fodder-producing grasslands and increased protection for natural grasslands. In 1996, several sites in Rajasthan were identified for intensive conservation action. Two Lesser Florican sanctuaries exist: Sailana and Sardarpur, both in Madhya Pradesh.
Conservation measures proposed: Monitor population size and trends. Map and delimit remaining grassland habitats supporting populations for establishment as protected areas with sustainable grassland management regimes. Implement proposals to ensure sustainable use of fodder-producing grasslands1. Promote local participation in grassland restoration and continue to employ local people as guardians of floricans and their habitats. Implement 'Project Bustards' the conservation strategy for Indian bustards.
Photo gallery:
Information compiled from: Internet sites: Books:
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