Amur falcons, the longest flying migratory birds, begin to arrive in Manipur

Two of the five Amur falcons, radio-tagged in Manipur last year, have been traced in China in early October this year.

Amur falcons, capable of flying the longest distances in one go, have begun to arrive in Manipur’s Tamenglong district following their routine annual migration course, officials said on Thursday.

Tamenglong forest skyline in Manipur covered with groups of Amur falcons arriving for their annual inter-continental journey. (HT Photo)

Confirming this in a facebook post, Tamenglong forest division wrote, “The first batch of Akhuaipuina/migratory raptors Amur falcons have arrived as reported by one of the members of rainforest club Tamenglong (on October 9).”

On Wednesday too, a large number of Amur falcons arrived and were sighted at Puching village in Tamenglong district.

“We have sighted the birds since the last few days in our village. The numbers will increase as more are expected to arrive,” said Ramkhonang Gonmei, chairman of Puching village. “They have arrived a bit early this time compared to the last year.”

Last year, a five-member team from the Wildlife institute of India led by Suresh Kumar had radio-tagged five Amur falcons, including two males, at Puching village and other Tamenglong areas in Manipur, with the support of the state forest department, Tamenglong district administration, rainforest club, Tamenglong and local villagers.

The five radio-tagged pigeon-sized migratory birds were named ‘Chiulon’, ‘Puching’ and ‘Phalong’ (all names of villages in Manipur), ‘Irang’ and ‘Barak’ (both names of rivers of Manipur).

Though details of other birds are not available, two radio-tagged Amur falcons – Chiulon and Irang-- have reached Xuzhou and Linyi cities of China as on October 10 after they started from their breeding ground, according to divisional forest officer Kh Hitler of Tamenglong district.

The radio-tagging of Amur falcons started in Manipur in 2018 as part of an initiative to conserve wildlife and also to study the route these long-distance migratory birds take and the environmental patterns along their route as India is a signatory to an international agreement on conservation of migratory birds of prey.

Amur falcons locally known as Akhuaipuina in Tamenglong, migrate to their wintering grounds in South Africa and usually arrive in October in Nagaland and Manipur besides a few other places in the northeast, undertaking a yearly journey of about 20,000 km. They leave the region in November after having enough food for their non-stop flight to Africa where they spend their winters.