Meet the godawan
What it looks like: pale brown above and white below, with a black crown, a long neck and strong legs built for walking.
How it moves: mostly on foot, slowly and with great dignity, picking food from the grass. It flies strongly but heavily.
- Scientific name
- Ardeotis nigriceps
- Height
- About a metre when standing
- Weight
- Among the heaviest flying birds
- Diet
- Seeds, grass shoots, insects, lizards
- What it eats: seeds, shoots, grasshoppers, beetles, lizards and even small snakes. In a locust year it feasts.
- Its name: godawan is the local name across western Rajasthan, and the bird is the state bird of Rajasthan.
- Its home: open, dry grassland with scattered shrubs, the kind of land that looks empty to most people and is anything but.
India's bustards, and their cousins in Rajasthan
Great Indian bustard: the biggest and rarest, a resident of the Thar grasslands, critically endangered.
Houbara bustard: a smaller winter visitor from Central Asia, pale and well camouflaged, seen in the Jaisalmer grasslands from late autumn.
- Lesser florican: a small bustard that comes to breed in the monsoon grasslands of eastern Rajasthan, around Ajmer, where the males leap high above the grass to display.
- A shared problem: all of India's bustards depend on open grassland, a habitat that has shrunk faster than forest because few people saw it as worth protecting.
- A shared lesson: where grassland is protected, bustards and floricans return to breed. The land is the answer, not just the birds.
How few are left
The survey: the Wildlife Institute of India and the Rajasthan forest department estimated about 130 birds in the Thar for the 2024-25 season. The report was released in 2026.
The comparison: an earlier estimate for 2017-18 was about 128, so the population appears stable rather than recovering.
- 2017-18 estimate
- About 128, Wildlife Institute of India
- 2024-25 estimate
- About 130, plus or minus 21
- Trend
- Described by the survey as stable
- Range used
- About 16 per cent of potential Thar habitat
- Shrinking space: the same survey found the birds using only about 16 per cent of their potential habitat in the Thar.
- Outside Rajasthan: only a handful survive elsewhere in India, with very few birds left in Kutch in Gujarat.
- Why stable is not safe: a population this small can be lost to one bad breeding season, a disease or a new power line across a flight path.
From India's grasslands to one corner of the Thar
A wide range: the bustard once lived across the dry grasslands of western and central India and into Pakistan.
Hunted: it was shot for sport and food through the colonial era and after. A big, slow-walking bird was an easy target.
- Ploughed out: grasslands were turned into farms, irrigated or planted with trees, often in the belief that open land was wasteland.
- Gone from Tal Chhapar: it was recorded at Tal Chhapar as recently as 2009, and has since disappeared there.
- The last stronghold: today almost all the remaining birds live in Jaisalmer district, in and around the Desert National Park and the Pokaran area.
The wires across the sky
A bird built badly for wires: bustards look sideways and down, not straight ahead, and their weight means they cannot swerve quickly.
The energy boom: solar and wind projects have spread across the Thar, and with them hundreds of kilometres of overhead lines.
- Main cause of death
- Collisions with overhead power lines
- Why
- Poor forward vision, slow to turn in flight
- 2021
- Supreme Court orders lines underground or marked
- Context
- Solar and wind growth across the Thar
- The court steps in: in 2021 India's Supreme Court ordered that power lines in the bird's core habitat be placed underground or fitted with bird diverters.
- A long argument: the court has since revisited the scope of its orders, balancing clean energy with the bird's survival. Our Desert National Park guide follows the latest.
- Diverters: the spinning markers you may see on wires near Jaisalmer are there to make lines visible to birds in flight.
- The bigger picture: clean energy matters, and it brings jobs to Jaisalmer and Barmer. The question is where it goes, not whether.
One egg, many enemies
One egg: most females lay one egg per breeding attempt, so the population grows only slowly even in good years.
Ground nests: eggs and chicks are exposed to foxes, dogs, crows and trampling by livestock.
- Feral dogs: dogs around villages and camps hunt chicks and disturb breeding birds.
- Grazing pressure: too many animals strip the grass bustards need for food and cover.
- Disturbance: vehicles, people and new roads in breeding areas can drive birds off their nests.
- Fences and farms: fenced solar parks and new fields break the open grassland into pieces too small for bustards.
The display: a bird puffed into a white balloon
The pouch: the male inflates a sac in his throat until his neck balloons white and hangs almost to the ground.
The tail: he cocks his tail up and over his back and struts, making a deep booming call.
- When: breeding is linked to the monsoon, so the best displays are often seen during and after the rains.
- Where: males display on open ground where females can see them from far away, often in the same spots each year.
- Seeing it: it is rare and should be watched only from a respectful distance with a local expert. Tell us if it is your dream, and we will plan carefully.
The breeding centres and the first hope
A state project: Rajasthan launched Project Great Indian Bustard in 2013, bringing enclosures, protection and research under one programme.
Eggs from the wild: teams collect eggs from wild nests at risk and hatch them in incubators, raising the chicks in captivity.
- Who
- Rajasthan forest department with the Wildlife Institute of India
- Centres
- Near Sam, and at Ramdevra near Pokaran
- Method
- Wild eggs collected, hatched and raised
- Milestone
- First chick from artificial insemination, 2024
- Two centres: a conservation breeding centre opened near Sam in the late 2010s, and a second at Ramdevra, near Pokaran, in 2022.
- A world first: in October 2024 the programme's first chick produced by artificial insemination hatched, a first for the species.
- The long aim: to build a captive population large enough to release birds back into protected grassland.
- Not a cure: captive breeding only works if there is safe habitat to release birds into. Wires and grassland loss still decide the future.
Grass, orans and the people of the Thar
Sewan grass: the tufted grass of the Thar plains is the best fodder in the desert and the bustard's essential cover.
Enclosures: the forest department fences key areas against grazing. Sudasari, about 55 kilometres from Jaisalmer, is the best known.
- Orans: sacred groves and grazing lands kept by villages for their deities, protected by custom. Many act as stepping stones of habitat.
- Herders as eyes: villagers report bustard sightings and nests, and some help guard eggs. Local naturalists are the park's best defenders.
- Shared land: many villages lie inside the park's boundary. Conservation here has to work with people, not around them.
Who shares the bustard's grassland
Houbara bustards: smaller cousins that arrive from Central Asia in winter and are recorded in the Sudasari and Sam areas.
Raptors: steppe and tawny eagles, laggar falcons, harriers and, in winter, great gatherings of vultures.
- Sandgrouse and larks: flocks of sandgrouse fly to water in the morning, and larks rise from every track.
- Mammals: chinkara, desert foxes, desert cats and spiny-tailed lizards, the last a favourite meal of eagles.
- Further afield: blackbuck and harriers at Tal Chhapar, and demoiselle cranes at Khichan.
How to look for a bustard, and how not to
Leave in the dark: reach the grassland as the light rises, when birds are active and the heat haze has not yet started.
Use a local naturalist: spotting a bustard across open grass is a real skill, and locals know where birds have been seen.
- Where
- Sudasari area of the Desert National Park
- From Jaisalmer
- About 55 kilometres to Sudasari
- Best time
- Dawn, November to March
- Go with
- A licensed local naturalist
- Keep your distance: stay in the vehicle, keep well back from enclosures and breeding areas, and never drive off the track.
- No drones, no playback: drones and recorded calls disturb birds that cannot afford it.
- Never chase a flight shot: a bustard flushed for a photograph may fly into a wire. No picture is worth that.
- Set expectations: some mornings bring a distant bird, some none. Our birding page explains how we plan desert days.
A dawn in the grassland, hour by hour
Five o'clock: leaving Jaisalmer
- In the dark: your car leaves the city or your camp with hot tea, blankets and breakfast packed.
- The road south-west: villages, dunes and khejri trees pass as grey shapes in the headlights.
First light: the plain
- Scanning: your naturalist stops, switches off the engine and scans the grass with a telescope or binoculars.
- What to look for: a white neck or a pale shape moving slowly, often far away. Chinkara and foxes are usually seen first.
Early morning: the wider grassland
- Raptors waking: eagles and falcons sit on posts and bushes, waiting for the air to warm.
- Sandgrouse: flocks fly over towards water, calling as they pass.
Mid-morning: breakfast and home
- Breakfast in the open: a picnic on a mat, well away from any birds.
- Back by eleven: before the heat haze and the hard light, with the afternoon for the fort or the pool.
Where to stay for the grassland
Suryagarh: on the road towards Sam, a calm, comfortable base for dawn departures. See Suryagarh.
- The Serai: a luxury desert camp near Jaisalmer with space and quiet. See The Serai.
- A desert camp near Sam: puts you closest to the park for a dawn start. Our guide to luxury desert camps explains how we choose.
- In the city: stay in Jaisalmer for the fort and havelis, and make one early run to the grassland.
Fitting the godawan into a journey
A desert journey: our Under the Thar Sky and desert triangle journeys can include a dawn in the grassland.
- For birders: our birding journey links Bharatpur and Tal Chhapar, and we can extend it to Jaisalmer.
- With dunes: pair the park with a night at Sam, which lies on its edge, or Khuri.
- In winter: our winter in Rajasthan journey catches the eagles and the houbara too.
Five things people get wrong about the bustard
It lives on dunes: it doesn't. The godawan is a bird of flat, open grassland and gravel plains, not sand dunes.
It is already extinct: it isn't, but it is close. About 130 birds remain in the wild, by the 2024-25 estimate.
- Captive breeding has fixed it: not yet. Chicks are being raised, but releases depend on safe grassland and lines that birds can see.
- It is solar or the bustard: the real choice is where energy projects and lines go, and how they are built. Both can coexist with care.
- Grassland is wasteland: the most damaging idea of all. Open grassland is rich, ancient and among India's least protected habitats.
How travellers can help
Hire local: local naturalists and drivers show villages that the bustard brings income.
Pay the fees: park and enclosure fees fund protection. Ask for a receipt.
- Leave no trace: carry out every scrap of rubbish, since food waste draws the dogs that kill chicks.
- Support the work: ask us about responsible organisations working for the bustard and the Thar grasslands.
- Tell the story: the godawan is little known outside India. Every traveller who goes home talking about it helps.
Who will love a bustard morning
Birders: this is one of the rarest birds on earth, and the Thar's raptors and sandgrouse make the morning worthwhile even without it.
Photographers: the light over the grassland at dawn is soft and wide, and chinkara and eagles make fine subjects.
- The curious: anyone who wants to understand the desert as a living place, not just a backdrop for a camp.
- Families: older children who can sit still in a vehicle often love the hunt, the binoculars and the picnic breakfast.
- Not for: travellers who need a guaranteed sighting or dislike very early starts. For easier wildlife, see the blackbuck of Tal Chhapar.
Before you go
Dress for cold and sun: winter dawns in the Thar are cold, and by ten the sun is fierce. Layers and a hat cover both.
Bring good optics: binoculars for everyone, and a long lens if you photograph. Birds are usually distant.
- Check the rules: enclosure access and permits change, so we confirm them before your visit.
- Be patient: sit still, keep quiet and enjoy whatever the grassland gives you that morning.
- Read ahead: our Desert National Park guide covers the fossils, the wildlife and the park's villages.