This is a smaller, slimmer-necked bustard overall, and its males have cheek-tufts of plumes with pennant-like tips rather than the crest, and a white band between neck and back.

The birds are usually encountered in the early mornings and evenings and are most easily spotted in the breeding season from March to August, which is when most censuses of the population are conducted.

Particular between March and May, when they give their stunning courtship display, males are far more conspicuous than the cryptically-coloured females, which moreover prefer high grassland rich in sugarcane.

[2] Restricted to tiny fragments of grassland scattered across South and Southeast Asia, the Bengal florican is the world's rarest bustard.

Poaching continues to be a problem in Southeast Asia, while the South Asian population is down to less than 350 adult birds, about 85% of which are found in India.

It may be that in India the decline is coming to a halt and that stocks in Dibru-Saikhowa and Kaziranga National Parks and Dudhwa Tiger Reserve are safe at very low levels.

Along with 350 square kilometres being designated as "Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Areas", where land-use practices are adapted to also benefit the Bengal florican, a public education program to inform schoolchildren about the bird has also been undertaken.

At present, the species may persist in the Ang Trapaing Thmor Crane Sanctuary and perhaps Vietnam's Tràm Chim National Park, but the South Asian population is not known with certainty from any protected areas.

[8] The courtship display of males has been discussed by many naturalists travelling British India, and in the modern era attracts tourists who provide revenue to locals.

Pastures and the traditional use of common land for villagers' tall-grass harvest (for construction and handicraft) actually seem to be tolerated quite well by the birds.

[5][6] A landscape ecology approach, integrating social, biological and physical environmental elements at scales compatible with management objectives, will be needed to effectively conserve Bengal floricans and their grassland habitats.