The Report

The full 83 page report is available free.

Don is pleased to provide the information in the hope that it is helpful to anyone interested in bustards.

The Report has been compressed but it is still a large pdf stored online and can be accessed, downloaded and printed.

However if you need a higher resolution version please email Don to make arrangements.

Topics covered in the report include -

Introduction

ORIGIN OF BUSTARDS AT SERENDIP

THE PROJECT and location

CAPTIVE MANAGEMENT

• Vegetation of the Breeding Enclosure
• Breeding Enclosure Layout,
• Identification, Observation and Data Collection,
• Feeding and Handling,
• Pathology, Longevity of bustards

CAPTIVE BREEDING

• Bustards remaining when breeding commenced in 1973,
• Factors affecting display,
• Display of the Male, Weight,
• Duration of display,
• Factors affecting display.
• Moult,
• Female Breeding Activity, Weight, Mating, Egg laying,
• Nests and Locations,
• Incubation

MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG BUSTARDS

• Hand rearing,
• Growth of the hand reared young,
• Rearing problems and mortality,
• Rearing of young bustards by parent or foster parent,
• Brooding and Feeding,
• Communication between mother and chick,
• Behavioural trends observed in young bustards reared by parent,
• The use of captive females as foster mothers,
• The use of newly captured wild females to rear chicks in captivity
• Natural incubation and rearing in large enclosures,
• Plumage change and sex determination in juvenile bustards

The contents of this report may be reproduced for research and non-commercial purposes if the author is appropriately credited.

The information must be reproduced accurately and the reproduction should not be represented as an official version.

NOTES ON THE BUSTARDS OF THE “BIG DESERT” IN NORTH WESTERN VICTORIA -

Breeding and Discussion