Little Bustard

Tetrax tetrax (Linnaeus, 1758)

42–45 cmLength110 cmWingspan834 gWeight

The male has a white-bordered black neck during the breeding season, and large areas of white show on the wings in flight.

Busiest months: October–November · Most records: Portugal, Spain, Azerbaijan

Near Threatened

How to identify

Field marks

Male in the breeding season has a black neck bordered by one white band above and one below
Male in the breeding season has a gray head, brown upperparts and white underparts
Long wings mostly white in flight

Male, female and young

Female and male in the non-breeding season lack the striking neck pattern; female has darker underparts than the male; juvenile resembles the female.

Voice

Both sexes are usually quiet; the male gives a pursed-lip blowing call, rendered as “prrt”.

Where and when it's recorded

Little Bustard has been recorded at 119 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 20 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Portugal Spain Azerbaijan Kazakhstan France Greece Türkiye United Kingdom

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The little bustard (Tetrax tetrax) is a bird in the bustard family, the only member of the genus Tetrax. It breeds in Southern Europe and in Western and Central Asia.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Little Bustard?

The Little Bustard is about 42–45 cm long, with a wingspan of 110 cm and weighs around 834 g.

Where does the Little Bustard live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: southwestern Europe and northwestern Africa to Central Asia. It is most often recorded in Portugal, Spain and Azerbaijan.