T Ganesh , Arjun Kannan  , Prashanth M.B. , Abhishek Samrat

Journal Of Arid Environments | September 20, 2024

The Thar Desert in the Indian sub-continent is prone to outbreaks of desert locusts during passage of migratory birds. We tracked Montagu’s harriers to determine if their desert stopover duration is affected by the availability of locusts. The stopover duration in the desert is related to arrival dates, mean NDVI,grasshopper abundance but not to locust outbreaks. Montagu’s Harrier did not track locust outbreaks and prefer to stopover at the same sites each year. Critical stopover sites in the Thar desert need to be protected to conserve migratory bird