Did you know that the heaviest European flying bird species lives in Slovakia? We talk about the great bustard.
The male can weigh from 5 up to 8 kilos, the female is one third lighter. Bustards has been living here in only a single locality, the Sysľovské polia Special Protection Area (SPA), where a record number of individuals is currently wintering. This was observed by the experts, who were presented by this fairy tale scene.
Since autumn, bustards are gathering up to flocks, wintering in quiet areas with a sufficient amount of food. It is composed mainly of parts of plants and seeds in this season. This year, a turning point came for bustards. “In 2023, new rules of the agricultural policy came into effect, according to which it is necessary to divide large fields by field boundaries, if farmers participate in the voluntary eco-scheme. We talk about vegetative strips, in another word ‘boundaries’, which farmers use to divide a field and to make the field area with a single crop type smaller. The field boundaries have many functions, such as anti-erosion, water retention, and also eco-stabilisation. In the field boundaries, many species can find a shelter during breeding and also food while wintering. That is why we are glad, that the farmers in Sysľovské polia created these field boundaries, as it is shown that bustards use them very often. The quiet in the area and the fact, that a considerable part of it is seeded with the winter rapeseed, help the bustards as well. While we do not like to see vast areas seeded with the rapeseed elsewhere in Slovakia, it is paradoxical that here it is the key crop for the bustards to survive winter,” added Jozef Ridzoň, the coordinator of Agro-Eco Forum.
Thus, thanks to the farmers and also the international LIFE Steppe on border project, new field boundaries were created in the Sysľovské polia SPA, which significantly improved the conditions for bustards. Other species, such as partridges and hares, benefit from the new field boundaries too.
The changes in the landscape use had a positive impact on the results of the counting of the wintering bustards’ population. “Every year at the same time period, a counting of the wintering bustards’ population has been under way in coordination with the experts from Hungary and Austria. In the Sysľovské polia SPA, during the last counting, we were presented by an exceptional scene. We counted 459 bustards, which is the record-breaking number in our territory. Hundreds of wintering bustards walking through the fields looked like a fairy tale to us,” says Samuel Pačenovský from the Dunajské luhy Protected Landscape Area.
Wintering bustards need to save their precious energy supplies, which they are unnecessarily spending being under stress or when disturbed, and thus they need quiet. The legislation regulates the movement of visitors to the area, so that the birds are not disturbed. “Motorway flyovers, that people are allowed to enter, are a suitable place for bird watching. These elevated spots provide a good broad range view. If they are lucky, the visitors might see flocks of bustards with tens or hundreds of individuals,” concludes Tomáš Veselovský from the LIFE Steppe on border team.
