The Canary Islands support the endemic, non-migratory Canarian Houbara with populations of approximately 527 birds. On the adjacent African continent, the North African Houbara stretches from Mauritania and the southern Atlantic coast of Morocco through to western Egypt. The North African Houbara is non-migratory but carries on seasonal movements and their number was estimated in 1997 at approximately 10 000 birds, most of which occur in Morocco and Algeria. The Nile valley is believed to separate this form from the Asian Houbara of which the numbers were estimated in 1997 at 39 –52 000 birds distributed from the Middle East to the Mongolian plateau and Gobi desert.
