Yang Weikang looking for the houbara bustard atop a jeep at the Mori study area.

More importantly, the researchers have managed to put the bird's most important breeding site under protection.

"We are now able to keep a close eye on the area with the largest concentration of the houbara and their breeding sites," Yang says.

Covering more than 3,000 sq km, the area is a stretch of desolate rangeland in Mori county of eastern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Studying the houbara since 1996, Yang says the Mori population has shrunk from an estimated 200 birds in 1998 to about 50 at present. But still, "it is the best place to see the bird in the country", he says.

He estimates there are still about 2,000 bustards breeding in China.

The decline began in 2000, when Kazakhstan welcomed wealthy Arabian falconers from the Gulf to bag houbaras. Kazakhstan is not only the bird's largest breeding ground, but also lies on its migratory route.

"This means that hunting of the houbara has spread from its wintering habitats to its migratory routes and breeding grounds," Yang says. "The implication of this is that many of our bustards may never make it back the next spring."

The increasing threat of extinction of the Asian houbara has pushed countries such as the UAE to work on conservation.

The cooperation between XIEG and NARC began in 1997. Under a three-year project, scientists from both sides made a nationwide survey about the bird's population and distribution and found the Mori study area, building a research station there in 1999.

Yang and his colleagues have been studying these birds ever since they moved into the station in 2000.