Houbara Bustard release in Morocco

[Brian S]

All – It was interesting to see the image of the Houbara Bustard taken in Morocco, ‘around Merzouga' in April 2008 by Attila Simay, who commented on the fact that three had been seen. I suspect these must have been from the reintroduction program where 5000 are reported to have been captive bred by General/ HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and released recently.

http://uaeinteract.com/docs/Houbara_bustard_reintroduced_into_the_wild/29383.htm

http://arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=108518&d=3&m=4&y=2008&pix=world.jpg&category=World

This follows other programs whereby Macqueen’s Bustards had been released in the UAE.

I do not want to comment on the reasons for the need to breed and release such numbers (numbers depleted by falconry and then released for falconry), but rather have a concern about the genetic purity of the birds being released in Morocco. The recent photo seems to look like Houbara, with strongly white crown feathers and the pattern of the upperparts looks well-barred, but I just hope that the birds released have not had any genetic dilution from the Middle East, nor indeed from the different subspecies of Houbara on the Canary Islands.

Does anybody know more about this and can confirm that all 5000 birds raised in eastern Morocco are Moroccan Houbara?

Brian S

[Martin Scott]

Brian

You might get more details via this link

http://www.houbara.com/index1.php?page=genetique

We came across these guys two years ago near Merzouga. They took us out to see a nest, with adult and eggs, near the Algerian border, in a jeep that was logo'd up as on the website with a flying bustard.

I had a chat with them, which was a bit of work, and was then shown on a map the area that the new bustards are released into. It is a huge fenced area between Zagora and Merzouga.

I believe that the main breeding area is on the outskirts of Agadir however

Martin

[Brian S]

Martin

I also was in Morocco two years ago, and was taken to a nest site. The nest had a ring of stones around it, placed there to stop the newly hatched chicks escaping - they are hatched more easily in the wild it is said. Once hatched they were collected for the breeding scheme....

Brian S

[Harry Hussey]

Hi all,
Two years ago, a few of us saw a Houbara in a different area of Morocco to those mentioned above, where the species used to be found more regularly in the past. It is difficult to know for certain whether birds have been released in that area also, but it must be likely?
Regards,
Harry