Vol. 42 No. 3, 2003

Breeding Habitat Selection by the Houbara Bustard Chlamydotis [undulata] macqueenii in Mori, Xinjiang, China

Wei-Kang Yang^1,*, Jian-Fang Qiao¹, Olivier Combreau², Xing-Yi Gao¹ and Wen-Qin Zhong³

¹Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
²National Avian Research Center, PO Box 10000, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
³Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China

Wei-Kang Yang, Jian-Fang Qiao, Olivier Combreau, Xing-Yi Gao and Wen-Qin Zhong (2003) In order to define the features that determine breeding habitat suitability for the Houbara Bustard (Chlamydotis undulata macqueenii), a study of nest-site selection by this species was carried out in Mori, Xinjiang, China during the breeding seasons in April-June 1998-2000. Most habitats chosen for nest sites were open areas with short shrubs close to patches of tall shrubs. The nesting female Houbara Bustard clearly prefers areas with sparse vegetation and avoids densely covered sites with tall vegetation. The vegetative species richness, number of fruiting species, and density of fruiting species at nest sites were significantly lower than those at other randomly selected sites. Vegetation density, plant species richness, density of Anabasis salsa, distance to the nearest fox den, distance to shrubby patches, and vegetative cover are possibly the most important factors determining nest-site selection by the Houbara Bustard. The distance to the closest fox den may be one of the important factors determining the destiny of the nests.

Key words: Houbara Bustard, Chlamydotis [undulata] macqueenii, Nest-site selection, Breeding habitat, China.

*Correspondence: Tel: 86-991-3837395 ext. 4020. Fax: 86-991-3835459. E-mail: Yang-wk@sohu.com