Amur Falcon crosses 21 countries in its annual migratory journey: Report

The Amur falcon, the world’s longest travelling migratory bird, stopped over 21 countries during its annual journey covering 22,000 km in a year, from eastern Asia all the way to Southern Africa and back, a report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) revealed.

Apart from India, the countries the bird travelled through include China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Oman, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa.

The 85-page report, which highlights the new findings from the satellite tracking of the Amur falcon from its stop-over sites in Manipur to support conservation efforts, was released during the 7th Amur Falcon festival at Tamenglong district headquarters, 150 km west of state capital Imphal on Monday.

Amur falcons migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa, and usually arrive in large numbers during October in Nagaland and Manipur besides other places in the northeast. They leave in November after having enough food for their non-stop flight to Africa where they spend their winters.

They also undertake the longest regular overwater passage of any bird of prey, crossing over the Indian Ocean between western India and the tropical East Africa, a journey of more than 4,000 km which includes nocturnal flight.

“It is recommended that a network involving local communities, forest department personnel, the church, administrators, media personnel representing each of the stop-over sites across the Northeast Indian region be formed,” the report said. “And, the network through consultations works together in planning, strategizing and adopting measures that better benefit Amur Falcon conservation in the region.”

During the study, eight falcons were satellite-tagged to document their migration, their breeding and non-breeding grounds, stop-over sites and migration strategies.

The tagging of the Amur Falcon in Manipur was undertaken in two phases, first in 2018 and then in 2019, and was scheduled for the first week of November when congregation of falcons is at its peak.

While some of the birds could not be tracked, some are successfully tracked for the longest duration of 827 days along with another which was tracked for three trips to the non-breeding grounds and two to the breeding grounds, the report stated.

Along with this, administrative orders banning hunting, media campaign, conservation awareness through the support of the church, and community ownership were also key factors in halting the large-scale harvest of Amur Falcons in the region.

“The landmark finding in the satellite tagging is that it has helped understand where all Amur Falcons stopover in Manipur and across Northeast India and why stopover in Manipur, which is driven by food availability and not just rest during their migration. It is the availability of super abundant termite food during this time of the year that is driving these large congregations there. This study has helped the department in their preparedness to create awareness and ensure safe passage. This study has definitely helped scale up conservation efforts not only for Amur Falcons but also to other species in these remote hill areas of Manipur and thereby highlighting the significance of conservation of the unique biodiversity,” Dr Suresh Kumar of WWI, who had tagged five falcons in Manipur, said.