Basic information

First of all, we thank you for contributing with your data to the Otis tarda Online and the success of international Great Bustard conservation!

Only registered users are able to submit data to the Otis tarda Online. Before submitting your data, please log in with your user name and password.

If you wish to submit Great Bustard data, please study what sort of information are needed or possible to enter during data upload!

Thus, you will be able to record this information already during your observation and can avoid any problem during the upload of your data.

It is important to fill in all obligatory fields, otherwise you will not able to complete the data upload process.

The data upload is a simple process if you pay close attention to the guidance notes on screen.

Enjoy the use of the database!

Fields marked with asterisks (*) must be filled in!

First, you need to give information on the location of your observation. To do this we use Google Maps. You should follow the steps described below otherwise you cannot go further.

Select country *
First, you need to select the country of your observation. The map will zoom on the selected country.

Nearest settlement? *
Second, type in the nearest settlement then click on the "Locate" button. The map will zoom on that settlement.

As our database is an international one, we use settlement names stored in the dataset of Google Maps. Unfortunately, this may cause that you cannot find the settlement. In this case follow the following steps:

• Check for typing errors in the name of the settlement.
• If the correct name cannot be found in the database you need to locate the settlement manually. The information below the map provide assistance in using Google Maps.

Enter the coordinates **
Third, you need to give the coordinates of the observation. Here only reasonable accuracy is expected as even when GPS coordinates are available the distance between the birds and the observer can be only estimated. Therefore, please give the approximate coordinates of the location of the bustards.

These coordinates will be only available for you and for the national coordinators of your country.

You can enter the coordinates three different manner:

1. If you have the coordinates (e.g. you have used GPS), type in the X (longitude) and Y (latitude) coordinates (WGS84). In this case, first you need to select the one of the three possible format of the coordinates you have. A blue dot will appear on the map showing the location of the coordinates you have just typed in.
2. If you do not have the coordinates, you can use the map to find the location of the birds. In this case, moving the map and zooming in helps in finding the correct location. You can simple click on the correct location and a blue dot will appear. At the same time, the coordinates of the observation will be filled in automatically in the fields on the right to the map. If you want to modify the location, click again.
3. If you have more data from an area, you can also select the location of one of your earlier observations. These are marked by red dots on the map. If you click on the selected dot, it will turn into a blue dot indicating that this is the location of the observation to be uploaded. (In this case the database will fill in automatically the exact location names based on your earlier inputs).

The observation

The following fields contain the most important information about your observation, therefore you need to fill them in!

Place of observation*
Beyond the location data (country, settlement, coordinates) here you should give a more precise description of the place (e.g. name of the location, or any data that helps to find the location of the birds).

This information will be available only for you and the national coordinator of your country.

Date (Day/Month/Year)*
Please enter the exact date of the observation.

Observers*
You should enter only one person's name into the field. If there were more observers, you can add additional names using the "+" button. You can enter the names of maximum three observers.

Number of individuals*
Please enter separately the number of males, females and juveniles. If you were not able to determine the sex and age of all individuals, you should enter their numbers into the indet field.

Have you seen any injured birds?*
If yes, please also enter their number.

Have you seen any dead birds?*
If yes, please also enter their number.

Conditions of observation

Here you can provide additional information in relation to your observation, but filling in these fields is optional!

Have you used any optics?
In combination with the distance, this gives us important information about the detectability of the age and sex of the birds.

Distance of the birds
In combination with information on optics use, his gives us important information about the detectability of the age and sex of the birds.

Important! In case of the fields marked with "+" you can enter select more options (e.g. in case of habitat). If you need to use more than one option, press the "+" button. You van enter maximum three fields.

Habitat type
You can enter here the habitat type(s) where you have seen the birds. You can choose from the most frequent ly used easily identifiable habitat types (29 options). You can give maximum three values here.

Height of vegetation
The height of the vegetation where the bustards stayed. You can select from three classes: 0-10 cm, 11-50 cm, 50 cm +

Behaviour
You can enter here the behaviour by selecting from a list of 14 easily identifiable form. You can give maximum three values here.

Threats
You can describe here the factors threatening the individuals or their habitat by selecting maximum three from the 14 options.

Comments
Any additional information you were not able to enter into the previous fields.