Portugal’s little bustard on brink of extinction after 90% population collapse

One of Portugal‘s most iconic terrestrial birds has suffered a dramatic population collapse, with numbers falling by 90% in just two decades, according to the latest national census.

The fourth National Little Bustard Census estimates that only 1,736 male little bustards (Tetrax tetrax) remain in Portugal, prompting environmental organisations to call for an urgent national emergency plan to prevent the species from disappearing.

Once a familiar sight across the plains of the Alentejo, the little bustard is now considered Critically Endangered in Portugal and is at imminent risk of extinction, conservation groups warn.

The census, coordinated by BIOPOLIS/CIBIO, found that the species has continued to decline despite protected areas and several European conservation projects.

“The results of this census are alarming, but unfortunately they are not unexpected,” said Julieta Costa, coordinator of SPEA-BirdLife’s Terrestrial Conservation Department. “We are witnessing the disappearance of the little bustard before our eyes. Given this evidence, it is incomprehensible that the Portuguese State continues to not implement effective conservation measures, clearly failing its duties under the European Commission Birds Directive”.

The little bustard depends on extensive cereal farmland and open grassland habitats, where it nests on the ground. Conservationists say the expansion of intensive almond and olive plantations, the decline of traditional cereal farming, increasing grazing pressure and the loss of fallow land have destroyed much of its breeding habitat.

Other threatened steppe birds, including the great bustard (Otis tarda) and Montagu’s harrier (Circus pyragus), are also experiencing sharp declines for similar reasons.

Since the late 1980s, Portugal has lost almost 80% of its cereal-growing area, falling from around 900,000 hectares to approximately 190,000 hectares in 2023, further reducing suitable habitat for the species, explains Joaquim Teodósio, coordinator of the LIFE SOS Pyrargus project.

Environmental organisations, including SPEA-BirdLife, the League for Nature Protection (LPN), WWF Portugal, ZERO and FAPAS, are calling on the government to introduce an interministerial emergency plan involving conservation groups, farmers, researchers and local authorities.

Among the measures proposed are stronger protection of breeding areas, incentives for cereal cultivation and fallow land, restrictions on irrigation in key habitats, better planning of energy infrastructure and the creation of new protected reserves, alongside a captive breeding programme.

Without immediate action, the organisations warn, the little bustard could disappear from Portugal within the foreseeable future.