TB Raab’s Managing Partner and zoologist Dr. Rainer Raab takes on WildLifeBuzz’s AMA, covering Great Bustard recovery, tracking data, and what’s really killing young birds.

Key Takeaways

• Dr. Rainer Raab is a zoologist and Managing Partner at TB Raab, and has spent more than 10,000 field hours observing Great Bustards in Austria’s Marchfeld region between 1999 and 2025.

• Since 2025, the LIFE EUROBUSTARD project has united ÖGG and 29 partners across Europe to mitigate the threats facing Great and Little Bustards.

• Burying medium-voltage power lines, marking high-voltage lines with diverters, and converting agricultural land into dedicated bustard fallow has been the single most measurable driver of population recovery.

• Great Bustards have changed their own behavior over time, birds that once avoided water and trees now actively seek both out.

• Tracking data from thousands of tagged birds, including Great Bustards and Red Kites, is already being used to understand mortality causes and guide conservation decisions.

• Predation by red foxes and eagles remains the leading natural cause of death for young bustards, though mortality factors vary significantly from country to country depending on local hunting activity.

A bird that once refused to go near water or step under a tree, now doing both by choice. A power line buried underground, quietly turning into one of the most effective conservation tools of the past three decades. A predator that’s just doing what predators do, showing up as the leading cause of death in a population that keeps growing anyway.

These were the kinds of grounded, decades-earned answers Dr. Rainer Raab gave during WildLifeBuzz’s AMA session, hosted on the TB Raab community. It’s a reminder that behind every population-recovery statistic is a researcher who has spent thousands of hours simply watching, and noticing what changes.

Meet Dr. Rainer Raab

Dr. Raab is a zoologist and Managing Partner at TB Raab, where he works on wildlife research, biodiversity conservation, and monitoring, with a particular focus on birds and dragonflies. He studied Zoology and Ecology at the University of Vienna, and has been involved in bird- and dragonfly-related projects since 1991.

The Great Bustard has anchored much of that career. Raab first observed the species in Austria’s Marchfeld region in 1990, out of personal interest, and between 1999 and 2025 logged more than 10,000 hours in the field observing them, work that also became the subject of his dissertation. Since 2025, he’s been part of LIFE EUROBUSTARD, a project bringing together ÖGG and 29 partners across the European range of the Great and Little Bustard. He also sits on the coordination unit of “Bustards Without Borders,” whose Bustard Multi-species Action Plan was adopted in Brazil in March 2026.

Beyond bustards, Raab has worked with more than 50 partners on bird tagging and monitoring projects across Europe and parts of Asia. Through LIFE EUROBUSTARD and LIFE EUROKITE, TB Raab now has access to tracking data from thousands of birds, including Red Kites, Great Bustards, and other raptors.

The Conservation Strategy That’s Actually Moving the Needle

Q: What has been the single most effective conservation strategy that has measurably improved Great Bustard populations, and could it be adapted for other threatened bird species in developing countries?

A: Burying medium-voltage power lines, marking high-voltage lines with diverters, and turning intensively farmed land into dedicated bustard fallow.

Aima Batool, writing in from Pakistan, asked Raab to distill more than three decades of work into the single most effective intervention. His answer was concrete rather than abstract: burying medium-voltage power lines was hugely important, alongside marking high-voltage lines with diverters so birds could see and avoid them in flight. Just as significant was converting several hundred to several thousand hectares of intensively used agricultural land into special Great Bustard fallow, giving the birds dedicated habitat instead of asking them to survive around farming activity. It’s a strategy built on infrastructure and land-use change rather than any single dramatic gesture, which is also what makes it realistically adaptable to other threatened bird species and other countries.

10,000 Hours in the Field: A Behavior Shift That Surprised Even Him

Q: After spending more than 10,000 hours observing Great Bustards, what is the most surprising behavior or lesson they’ve taught you?

A: The birds themselves have changed. They once avoided water and trees almost entirely — now they seek both out.

Nandita’s question asked Raab to reach back across his entire career for a single standout lesson, and what he described wasn’t a one-off sighting but a gradual, generational shift. When he started working in Central Europe, he never once observed Great Bustards drinking water, and the birds actively avoided trees. That has since reversed: the population he studies now needs to drink water regularly and spends considerable time resting in the shade of trees. It’s the kind of behavioral change that only becomes visible after 10,000 hours of watching the same population, and it points to how much a species’ relationship with its landscape can shift even without the landscape itself changing dramatically.

Tracking Data as an Early-Warning System

Q: Could bird movement tracking data be used as an early-warning system to detect environmental or health changes before their impacts become evident?

A: It’s already happening — tracking data is helping explain both bustard biology and the reasons behind individual bird deaths.

Mohammed Salah Al-Obaidi’s question looked forward, but Raab’s answer was firmly rooted in the present. TB Raab already uses tracking data from tagged bustards to better understand their biology and movement patterns, and, critically, to determine the reasons behind individual deaths as they occur. He credited that steady, data-driven effort with why the population he monitors is still growing: not a single breakthrough, but the sustained accumulation of good, efficient conservation measures informed by what the tracking data actually shows.

What’s Really Killing Young Bustards

Q: What is the primary cause of mortality among the birds you monitor, and do these factors vary significantly from country to country?

A: Predation, mainly by red foxes and eagles, is the leading natural cause of death in young birds — and yes, it varies a lot by country.

Bûraẓ’s question came with a comparison point already attached: a partridge study in Turkey had found predation to be almost the exclusive cause of mortality. Raab confirmed a similar pattern in young bustards, where predation, primarily from red foxes and eagles, is a major factor, though he was careful to frame it as a natural cause rather than a conservation failure. Where things diverge is geography: mortality factors differ substantially from country to country, shaped in part by how much hunting activity takes place in a given region, a variable that shifts the pressure on bustard populations well beyond predation alone.

The Conversation Is Only Beginning

That’s the value of a good AMA: specific questions get specific, field-tested answers. This session made clear that recovering a species like the Great Bustard isn’t about one silver-bullet fix — it’s buried power lines, converted farmland, tracking collars, and thousands of quiet hours spent simply watching what the birds do differently this year than last.

From a population that learned to drink water to a Multi-species Action Plan adopted an ocean away in Brazil, this WildLifeBuzz AMA covered more ground in one thread than most feature stories manage.

And it happened because the WLB community showed up and asked. Head over to the app or the web platform to read more such interesting WLB AMA sessions!

See wildlife conversations that are buzzing at www.wildlife.buzz!