Bengal Florican or Bengal Bustard (male)

Description:

Listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCNredlist. I realise my images are not the best quality. However, the bird is able to be identified and I was only able to get flight shots. I posted this spotting simply to bring attention to this wonderful bird that is Critically Endangered. This is a male! The males are beautiful black birds with a large white patch on the wing when not in flight but largely white when in flight.

Habitat:

This is one of the the three males we were so privileged to see...but all three were in flight. They were in the open grasslands that they usually inhabit. The location is not exact.

Notes:

"During the breeding season males preferentially select habitats related to low-intensity human activity, chiefly burned grassland..." (IUCNredlist) Our guide had been telling us that the villagers do controlled burns in this grasslands for the above reason but also because it makes it easier to see the birds! "Official patrol teams are now operating in Kampong Thom and Siem Reap, and in both provinces the Forestry Administration, working through provincial commissions, has already halted several proposed developments which would otherwise have destroyed vital breeding habitat (Eames 2007, van Zalinge et al. 2009, 2010, Mahood et al. 2012)." (BirdLife International (2016) Species factsheet: Houbaropsis bengalensis. : http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species... ). "Designated Bengal Florican Conservation Areas, the seasonally flooded grasslands of Kompong Thom and Siem Reap Provinces harbor the largest known population of Bengal Florican in Cambodia (and likely the world)." (Sam Veasna Center: http://samveasna.org/bird-site/florican-... ). Identified by our guide from the Sam Veasna Center.