The Houbara is the largest bird in the Canary Islands and, despite this, is the great unknown of our Archipelago. It measures 56 centimeters, more than the giant lizard of El Hierro, and has a wingspan (with outstretched wings) of 1.70 meters. Last Thursday, the Spanish Ornithological Society (SEO) presented in Lanzarote the Life project for the conservation of the Houbara Bustard in the Canary Islands.
The specialists warned of the danger of extinction that haunts this bird, whose ability to hide from humans has made it the most mysterious bird in our geography. It is estimated that there are currently 800 specimens located between Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, of which 570 are on the island of Lanzarote. The Houbara will benefit for four years from this ambitious conservation project, whose actions will be aimed at launching initiatives for the protection of this species.
A huge and skittish bird
Alejandro Perdomo, technician of the Life project, explained to LA VOZ that there are three subspecies of Houbara in the world, located in Russian Mongolia, in North Africa and, finally, in the Canary Islands. "Of those three concentrations of Houbara, the one found in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura is the densest," he said. They are birds that live in the steppe, "in open spaces with very little vegetation, where the visual basin is very open." The Houbara "has some difficulty in flying and that defines its behavior a lot because it permanently has to be located on a runway".
Rubén Barones, another technician of the Life project, also confirmed this fact. And he added another of the characteristics that allow it to hide from us: it is the color of its plumage, which camouflages with the desert landscape.
Like any species, one of its behavioral patterns is survival and that is why it is permanently on the escape line. Alejandro pointed out that it needs 20 meters to take off and that is the reason why it is located in the steppe. In addition, he said, "it is a tremendously skittish animal with humans." In fact, the first naturalists do not reflect this bird in their writings because the Houbara flees from the human figure.
Why is it threatened?
One of the first data that are appearing in this research, conservation and dissemination project is that the Houbara remains very well in isolated spaces. "As Lanzarote has concentrated the population in tourist and residential areas, and has dispersed very little, on the island of Lanzarote they live better than in Fuerteventura," explained the technician. The intense rain last year recorded on our island has been another fact that has favored the population of Houbaras in Lanzarote.
On the other hand, Alejandro added, "Fuerteventura has a Territorial Planning Plan that allows building on plots of 10,000 square meters, so they are not leaving uninhabited areas and are exhausting and stressing the animal, decreasing its reproduction."
An ambitious project
The main objective of the project is to implement a series of measures for the conservation of the Houbara Bustard and its habitat. Among them is the need to draft a new Recovery Plan for the species, which must be approved by the Government of the Canary Islands. It also includes the purchase and creation of a comprehensive reserve in Fuerteventura, within a ZEPA, which will guarantee the conservation of a priority place for the Houbara Bustard and will allow numerous investigations on this species. ZEPAs are places in the European Union that house bird populations that require their conservation and proper management.
The total investment amounts to 1,558,321 euros, of which 75% (1,168,741) comes from the Life program and the rest is contributed by SEO/BirdLife, the Cabildo of Lanzarote, the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Environment of the Government of the Canary Islands and the RSPB (BirdLife in the United Kingdom, with the collaboration of Swarovski). It also has the participation and financing of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura.
Reserve for conservation
Rubén Barones explained that, within the set of measures adopted for its conservation, the SEO has acquired the El Cercado de El Jarde farm, of more than 200 hectares in Fuerteventura. The conservation problems of its habitat justify that the purchase of land is one of the main objectives of the Life Project for the conservation of this endemic bird of the archipelago and unique in Europe. The acquisition of the reserve became effective last May for a total of 780,000 euros.
It is a privileged place because in it "up to 18 specimens of Houbara have been located, which represents almost 8% of the total number of troops on the island". But this reserve is also threatened by human action.
Rubén was concerned because "it seems that the Territorial Planning Plan contemplates the possibility of building, around the farm, goat farms, which would have a very large impact on the protected area." However, he was cautious because they are still waiting for said data to be confirmed by the Environment.
