Satellite-tagged Amur Falcon reaches South Africa from Manipur in 2 months

Last year, the Manipur forest dept and locals released two radio-tagged Amur falcons --- world’s longest travelling birds --- to study their migratory routes.

IMPHAL: One of the two satellite-tagged Amur Falcons (Falco amurensis), ‘Chiuluan2’, named after a village in Manipur’s Tamenglong district, has arrived in South Africa on Saturday after crossing the Kalahari Desert , said Wildlife Institute of India (WII) scientist R. Suresh Kumar, who is monitoring the bird’s migratory route.

‘Chiuluan2’ is a male Amur falcon (Sourced photo)

The bird had reached its first stopover site in Somalia after flying non-stop and crossing the Arabian Sea in five days and 17 hours.

“The region in South Africa where ‘Chiuluan2’ arrived on Saturday is technically known as the African Veldt and is located about 360 km west of Johannesburg,” said Kumar.

On November 8 last year, the Manipur forest department and local residents released two Amur falcons—’Chiuluan2’ and ‘Gwangram’—after radio-tagging them with satellite transmitters. The aim was to study the migratory routes of these birds and the environmental patterns from Tamenglong.

‘Chiuluan2’ is a male Amur falcon, while ‘Gwangram’ is a female. Chiuluan and Gwangram are two roosting villages of the Amur falcons in Tamenglong.

“Unfortunately, Gwangram, the other satellite-tagged female falcon, has not been transmitting signals since December 13,” Kumar added.

This radio-tagging programme for Amur falcons was first implemented in November 2018 in Tamenglong, followed by another radio-tagging program in 2019 with five birds. “Two falcons, named ‘Tamenglong’ and ‘Manipur,’ were radio-tagged that year, followed by five birds named ‘Chiuluan,’ ‘Puching,’ ‘Phalong,’ ‘Irang,’ and ‘Barak’ in 2019, in an effort to raise awareness about wildlife conservation,” said officials.

Amur falcons, the world’s longest-traveling birds, are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act. They breed in southeast Russia and northeast China during the summer and migrate to their wintering grounds in Africa.

Their yearly journey covers about 20,000 km, passing through Afghanistan and East Asia. Along the way, they stop in northeast India and Somalia.

The pigeon-sized raptors, locally known as Akhuaipuina, arrive in the northeast, including Nagaland and Manipur, in October. They leave the region in November after feeding enough to sustain their non-stop flight to Africa, where they spend their winters.