Amazing journey of Amur Falcons – Firstpost

At a time when Manipur has been creating headlines, unfortunately for ethnic violence, a district of this northeastern state is in the news for some good reasons. That too for two small pigeon-sized raptor birds! The Wildlife Institute of India (Dehradun) geo-tagged two Amur Falcons in district Tamenglong in November this year to track their migration route, and the birds have crossed many countries to reach their winter abode in Africa.

This year, two Amur Falcons were radio tagged in Manipur on November 8. Honouring the two key stopover sites of the migratory birds, the winged guests were named ‘Chiuluan2’ and ‘Gwangram’—based on two villages in district Tamenglong. The 20,000 km long migration route of the Amur Falcon from their breeding ground in North China, halting in northeast India to different countries, presents an amazing story. The birds pass through 23 countries, including China, India, Nepal, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Oman, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa, during their migration. The study on the Amur Falcon is helping generate awareness, and local people are contributing to the conservation of this raptor bird species.

Among the two tagged birds, one has reached Botswana and the other Kenya. The birds use Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Assam as their halting points to refuel before undertaking the long, long flight. According to a Wildlife Institute of India report, they fly non-stop for about 5-6 days from northeast India to cross the Arabian Sea to reach Somalia. From its breeding ground in northern China (Manchurian Steppe), flocks of Amur Falcons take a brief halt in India and finally fly to south and east Africa for their winter stay.

WII scientist R Suresh Kumar says, “The Amur Falcons stay generally in India for about 2-3 weeks, arriving in mid-October and departing by mid-November. Now local people are playing an active role in the conservation of Amur Falcons. Acting on the request of local villagers, the Manipur forest department invited the Wildlife Institute of India this year. This study is helping us understand the time of migration, potential reasons for stopover in northeast India, diet, and habitat of Amur Falcons.”

The Amur Falcon conservation project has completed 11 years of its operation, and it remains one of the major conservation success stories in the world. And in these bygone new plans, were executed by local administration and the forest department with the active participation of the local people. Even a challenging target like achieving a complete ban on hunting and trapping of the raptor birds was achieved in stopover sites in India. Even this year, before the arrival of the migratory birds, the local administration was on its toes to ensure a safe passage of the Amur Falcons. The Workh (Nagaland) and Tamenglong (Manipur) issued strict instructions for imposing a ban on hunting and trapping of Amur Falcons in the state. In many places villagers deposited their air guns with their village head. A public awareness programme was launched.

The study was started way back in 2013, when 3 birds were geo-tagged at Pangti in Nagaland. The project has helped educate the public about the importance of their village in the conservation of the raptor bird. Local people actively participate in the campaign to ensure zero hunting during the Amur Falcons’ stay. Annually an Amur Falcon festival is also hosted in the stopover sites to make the public aware and ensure their participation in the conservation project.

P Thungchumo Shidio, president of the Amur Falcon Roosting Area Union (Pangti), says, “The conservation project has helped a far-flung village like Pangti turn into a tourist destination. We get visitors from far and near. The most surprising part is that we also get a large number of local tourists from our home state. Amur Falcons were hunted for consumption for over a decade. However, after the intervention by the Government and other NGOs, people of Pangti village accepted the importance of conservation and preservation of wildlife. Protection of the Amur Falcon, especially by the hardcore hunter (hunter-turned-conservationist), helped achieve zero hunting in 2014. The same has been maintained thus far. I consider this a big achievement.”

The ‘People’s Biodiversity Register’ of Pangti village, a document prepared by the local community, admits mass hunting, trapping, and openly selling of Amur Falcons taking place from 2006 to 2012. This practice has completely stopped after 2012-13. Now Amur Falcons use Pangti as a day roosting site and move to nearby Aree village during nighttime. This sudden change of night roosting site is also a matter of concern for wildlife scientists.

After 2013, two new birds were tagged in 2018 and five birds in 2019. This year two birds were tagged, and the finding continues to amaze the wildlife scientists and lovers. The use of satellite telemetry has helped in understanding the migration time, route, and various other issues related to the raptor birds.

But, still, many issues remain unknown. A Wildlife Institute of India report, ‘Satellite Tracking Amur Falcons (2020),’ urges for an extensive field study across the northeast region focusing on the identification of stopover sites and documenting their habitat characteristics.” The report states that Amur Falcons have abandoned many of the sites used earlier in northeast India. These sites need to be investigated, and for better conservation of Amur Falcons, a landscape-based approach and not site-specific should be adopted.

Till 2012, not many were talking about Amur Falcons in India. But media reports about mass hunting of the migratory birds for human consumption in Nagaland created an outcry in 2012 demanding an immediate ban on it. In 11 years time, the Amur Falcon conservation project has made rapid progress. Hunters have turned conservationists, and this is the biggest success of the project.

Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.