It was the first time in Hungary that a hen bustard had been outfitted with a satellite transmitter by the experts of the LIFE Conservation Programme for Great Bustard and the Kiskunság National Park in the surroundings of the village Bugyi.

The captured hen had its nest in an alfalfa stand (the name of the bird originates from this, because alfalfa is called „lucerna” in Hungarian), and only an insufficient – too little – buffer zone had been left around the nest during the mowing of the stand. In situations like this eggs are often destroyed by fox, crow or the hen itself can leave the nest behind. The two eggs found in the nest were replaced with wooden fake eggs, while the real ones were transported to the Great Bustard Conservation Centre in Dévaványa.
As her nesting had already been interrupted anyway, Luca was captured on the 12th of May, at dawn with the help and under the controll of the veterinarians of the Budapest ZOO. The radio transmitter was mounted on the back of the animal within 20 minutes. Since then the equipment continously transmits the data of the geopraphical location of the bird, and hopefully many valuable information will be gained about the bustards’ way of life, their habits, and the movements of the flocks, that can be useful for the conservation of the species.