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Great Bustards are large birds (among the heaviest birds on Earth that have flight). They have cryptic plumage and a strong sexual dimorphism, i.e. males and females are different. While the differences between the sexes in the morphology of their plumage are rather subtle, male Great Bustards are much larger and heavier than females. Both sexes have a basically all-pale grey head and neck and an otherwise off-white underside. The upperparts are barred rufous to chestnut and dark-brown. Males have a heavy build, with a chestnut ring around the lower neck and chest. Also their upperparts, including the tail, show chestnut hues. They have grey whiskers on both sides of the throat. The underwings are white to light-grey, with a black trailing edge; these feathers are mainly used in their display postures. Females are slimmer and have more subdued colours. The slim neck has an inconspicuous chestnut infusion, while the upperparts lack chestnut and are only barred rufous/dark-brown. Immature males resemble females, but already with first traces of rufous to chestnut on the sides of their lower neck. The irises are dark; the bill is grey, with a dark tip. Legs and feet are also grey.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Great Bustard is available HERE .

Despite their widespread distribution across basically the entire width of Eurasia, there are no different races. The range of the Great Bustard has been greatly reduced over the centuries, mostly by hunting them to extirpation, e.g. on the British isles, but also by disturbances in their breeding range. Within their remaining range, they are a partly migratory, partly sedentary species. The current overall range extends from Iberia and a remnant population in north-western Africa, via central and south-eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Euphrates and Tigris valleys and south-western Asia to eastern China and Mongolia. In much of Europe and in central Asia the species has disappeared. The African and European populations, as well as most of the population in Asia Minor, are sedentary (or only locally migratory). The Asian populations are migratory over long distances. Their breeding grounds are mostly in the steppes of Kazakhstan and south-western Russia and in the border region of northern China with eastern Mongolia and south-eastern Russia. They overwinter in the Euphrates/Tigris river valleys, parts of the Levant, the border region of northern Iran/Iraq with Kazakhstan, and in eastern China. In between, they can be found during their migration.

In Europe, most Great Bustards are found as sedentary (or only locally migratory in response to weather/temperatures) populations on the Iberian peninsula. There are some small sedentary populations in an area from parts of the Netherlands to wesern Poland, and in the Puszta region of Hungary. Otherwise, Great Bustards are found as summer breeding migrants to an area spanning from southern Ukraine to the northern side of the Caucasus mountain range in the South and the Ural mountain range in the East (the range of this population continues into southern central Asia).

Great Bustards have a preference for steppe and open grassy plains.

J. Pires reports first spotting Great Bustards at Vale Goncalinho, Castro Verde, Beja, Portugal, in October 2022. They were found at the same location again in April 2023.

J. Pires also found Great Bustards near Sao Marcos da Ataboeira, Castro Verde, Alentejo, Portugal, in February 2023.

In September 2023, J. Pires spotted Great Bustards at Vale Migalhas, Mora, Evora, Portugal.

All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.