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Secondary sex traits involved in the courtship display of the male great bustard (Otis tarda) are analyzed in the light of condition‐dependence theory. Heaviest males at the start of the mating period further gained about 30% in body mass. Both display performance and development of morphological traits involved are mainly determined by body mass. Males who developed sex traits were among those in good physical condition, although not the current physical condition but weight of the male correlates with the development of sex traits. We discuss the idea that weight may be a good indicator of overall physical condition during development up to maturity, rather than just the current condition at a given season. Our results show a discontinuity both in display performance and in the development of morphological traits — i.e. birds of weight below a certain threshold neither performed the display nor fully developed the secondary sex traits. This constitutes evidence of cost reduction by males when expected benefits from mating are low, and is consistent with the viability‐conditioned expression of the traits.

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