Counting houbara bustard in the Canary Islands

Abstract

The census technique employed in 1994, during the last survey of houbara bustard in the Canary Islands (Figure 1) is described. The use of small radios by all members of the team proved to be very valuable to avoid the duplication of records. Up to now, the Canarian houbara population has been counted and estimated with different methods making reliable comparisons difficult. In spite of the fact that this subspecies was considered very threatened, at present the Archipelago supports more than 500 birds rehich is the highest density in the rehole species range.