This otherwise reclusive bird is best known for its elaborate courtship display, where the male’s black and white plumage is shown off to good effect in short arching display flights, as well as choreographed strutting – with fluffed up neck feathers and a head pumping action, to attract females.
Bengal Florican is the only member of its genus Houbaropsis, and is the rarest member of the Bustard Order, Ortidiformes. Two thirds of the global population breed in the floodplain of the Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia; they migrate up to 100km annually to escape the floodwaters in the non-breeding season. Thousands of kilometres away in Nepal and India, there exists another population of the same species which occupies the duars and terai grasslands along the base of the Himalayas. Both populations are in decline and threatened by habitat loss through drainage, conversion to agricultural land and plantations, the invasion of alien species, and damn construction. They are, or were, targeted by hunters for sport and food, leading to their decline.
- Order: Otidiformes
- Family: Otididae
- Population: 350-1,500
- Trend: decreasing
- Size: 66-68cm
- Weight: 1250-2250g
There are two populations of Bengal Florican, separated by thousands of kilometres. The western population is found in the Indian Subcontinent; birds here occupy a thin, patchy strip of relict habitat. The larger population is centred in Cambodia, concentrated in the floodplain grasslands that surround the Tonle Sap Lake. A very small number of individuals probably still breed in adjacent areas of Vietnam.
Habitat and Ecology
This species inhabit the short plains of subtropical riverine grassland, though they breed on grasslands towards the end of the dry season and undertake a short migration to low statue open forest. They are omnivores, feeding on insects, as well as seeds, fruits and flowers, and have been known to eat small lizards and snakes. They are very reclusive except in March-May when males competitively display in groups of at least seven birds, widely spaced.