Thousands Count Endangered Bird in India BOMBAY, India Carrying
binoculars and notebooks, thousands of nature lovers and
conservationists scoured semiarid grasslands of western India
Sunday to count a bird considered on the brink of extinction.
The Great Indian Bustard is long-legged with a black crown on
its forehead and stands up to 3 1/2 feet tall. It breeds in
grassy plains in western India and its dwindling numbers are the
first warning that the grasslands are deteriorating. "Never
before has a census been done on such a scale," said
conservationist D.R. Panihar about the launch of the first in a
series of efforts to protect the bird. "The situation is so
alarming that if effective conservation steps are not taken the
Great Indian Bustard will be extinct soon." The International
Union for Conservation of Nature said last year the bird was
perhaps the most endangered member of the 22-species bustard
family worldwide, and could be extinct within a decade. India
ranks third after Indonesia and the Philippin