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Article: A Flying Heavyweight.(bustards )
- Article from:
- The World and I
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 News World Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Once a common sight on European farmlands, the handsome great bustard is now one of the most endangered species in the world.
It is wintertime in Austria. Peering through his telescope, Rainer Raab scans the fields of Marchfeld, an agricultural area northeast of Vienna. He is estimating the number of great bustards that are wintering in this area. The shy birds are hard to detect amid the tall stands of rape, their main food source during the cold season.
After World War II, more than 700 members of this magnificent species lived in Austria. The population declined in the following decades and, despite conservation efforts that began in the 1960s, ...