Satellite-Tagged Migratory Bird Shot Dead In Manipur

The incident has prompted the state government to discuss cancellation of gun licenses (air guns) in the next Cabinet meeting

Updated: November 16, 2018 12:17 IST

Days after it was satellite-tagged and released, an Amur falcon "Manipur", named after the northeast Indian state bordering Myanmar, was allegedly shot down by unknown people at a roosting site during its migratory passage through the region.

The incident has prompted the state government to discuss cancellation of gun licenses (air guns) in the next cabinet meeting while a district administration has imposed a ban on air guns in the aftermath of the incident.

Meanwhile, wildlife biologists associated with the tagging exercise will kick-off landscape-level surveys across river valleys in Manipur to ascertain the status of roosting sites.

Amur falcons are known to breed in southeast Russia and northern China and migrate west through India and across the Arabian Sea to southern Africa where they spend their winter, making a round-trip of at least 20,000 km every year, travelling between their breeding and wintering grounds.

This arduous journey includes a non-stop flight over the Arabian Sea after passing across India. The resilient falcons arrive in large numbers during October in Nagaland and a few other places in northeastern India, including Tamenglong in Manipur.

"Manipur", a male migratory raptor, was one of the two Amur falcons to be tagged for the first time in the state. The second bird, a female, was christened "Tamenglong" after the district where it was captured and released. Both were captured on November 4 and released in the morning the day after.

The exercise in the remote community forest area of Chiuluan village along the Barak river in Tamenglong district of the state was undertaken by a team of officials led by Suresh Kumar of the Wildlife Institute of India, the state Forest Department under DFO Arun R.S. and biologists from Hungary.

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Falcon from Mongolia sighted in Madayipara

Mohamed Nazeer

KANNUR , DECEMBER 09, 2017 23:20 IST

UPDATED: DECEMBER 09, 2017 23:29 IST

First spotting of Amur Falcon, a pigeon-sized migratory bird, in Kannur

Migratory bird Amur Falcon has been spotted for the first time at Madayipara here. The bird was sighted by Jayan Thomas, an ophthalmologist and bird enthusiast, on November 29. The sighting was confirmed by ornithologists C. Sashikumar and J. Praveen.

Amur Falcon is a small pigeon-sized bird weighing just 150 grams. Dr. Thomas said the bird species was first reported from the Amur river basin near Mongolia. In November/December each year the birds fly from Mongolia to northeast India, covering 5,600 km. Then they continue their journey to the wintering grounds in South Africa by flying another 22,000 km via central and western India and then back to Mongolia.

A gory history

Mr. Sashikumar said though Amur Falcon had been sighted in some parts of the State earlier, it was for the first time that the bird was spotted in Kannur. He said the bird had a gory past as it had been killed in large numbers for meat in Nagaland. Steps to protect Amur Falcons were launched in that State in 2012, he noted.

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Flying home to Balrampur: Sanctuaries play host to rare birds

TOI

Mon,08 May 2017

LUCKNOW: It is good news for bird lovers. A recent report shows that one of the state's lesser known sanctuaries played host to a large number of the rarest birds of the world.Suheldev Wildlife Sanctuary in Balrampur district has emerged as a dark horse. It was found to be home to around 300 bird species in the first ever avifaunal study in the area. 

Avifaunal means the study of birds and their environment. In this case, the results have been exemplary. The period of the study was 2014-15.A rare raptor and a native to South Africa, the Amur Falcon visited the sanctuary every year from 2014 to 2016 at the onset of winter While the study itself recorded its presence in 2014-15 as a first-of-its-kind event, in 2016, officials at the sanctuary confirmed that the rare bird visited.The Amur Falcon usually flies to Nagaland, and is also found in Bangalore.Of the 300 species spotted, more than 150 were rare birds, says the study team from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), funded by the forest department.As many as 26 of these are near-threatened species. 

Source:

Ornithologist captures rare Amur Falcon in Bastar

Rashmi Drolia| TNN | Jul 13, 2016, 09.52 AM IST

Raipur: Fondly called 'cutest falcon' by birdwatchers, Amur Falcon, a lesser known threatened species of raptor that breeds in south-eastern Siberia and Northern China was spotted for the first time in Central India's Bastar region by a birder recently.

Birder and head of department, zoology of Government PG College, Jagdalpur, Dr Sushil Dutta released his first research papers with photographic documentation on Tuesday.

He stated that Eastern red-footed Falcon, one of the least talked-about species, was spotted for two successive days while it was migrating from China to South Africa in November last year. Earlier, spotted in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, the Falcon crosses 22,000 kilometres via India and halts in MP and Chhattisgarh as well.

Dr Dutta told TOI, "On November last year, this bird first arrived at north eastern side of Rajnagar tank, about 26 kilometres from Jagdalpur. Thereafter, it moved on to a nearby power line and next morning, the bird was seen perched on the power line. These birds on their trans-equatorial migration come from China and north east and fly across to South Africa in the south west and Bastar seems to be the pathway on the route."

Dr Dutta added that they usually return in March-April from South Africa and fly away to far north east. But in February, March and April, I made several visits to the spot where I had sighted the bird but it was not to be seen."

It is the first ever photographic documentation of the bird in Central India. The two sighting events revealed most of the morphological characters helpful for identification.

Talking to TOI, ecologist ML Naik said, "Certainly it's a good report to know that area of distribution of species has been observed to be wider than earlier. Such news is good for the state if rare species of birds feel safe here. If they get food, they might stay longer, which is also an indication that state's area is safer and suitable for birds."

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Amur Falcon returns to Nagaland, bird lovers exult

New Delhi/Kohima | Monday, Nov 16 2015 IST

The hunters-turned-bird lovers waiting at the lakeside in Pangti village early morning cheered with joy when two radio-tagged Amur Falcons appeared on the horizon of Doyang Lake after two years, unleashing hope that the bird hasn't given up despite being hunted for what it was.

Within minutes, skyline was filled with more and more Amur Falcons, amplifying the cheers and prompting an over-awed Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to vow that he will develop Doyang Lake as eco-tourism destination soon for the bird watchers worldwide.

Weighing only 150 gram, the agile and indefatigable raptors covered 5,600 kilometres from Mongolia to arrive in Nagaland, flying non stop for five days, five nights.

The two radio-tagged falcons, christened Naga and Pangti, named after the lakeside village Pangti, have already done two rounds from Mongolia to South Africa via Nagaland and have again returned to Nagaland this year, according to the tracking satellite data.

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120,000 Amur falcons massacred in 1 week in India

Huge massacre of migratory falcons an annual event in India

Our thanks to by Shashank Dalvi and Ramki Sreenivasan of Conservation India for most of the information and all of the images for this article.

Amur falcons migrate from southern Africa to Mongolia and eastern China, and back, every year, an extraordinary round-trip of some 14,000 miles.

However as many as 100,000 falcons (some estimate even more) are killed on their migration when they reach India's north-eastern state of Nagaland. Witnesses claim that tens of thousands of Amur falcons are being trapped and slaughtered every day during their migration.

According to Conservation India: "We estimate that during the peak migration 12,000 - 14,000 birds are being hunted for consumption and commercial sale every day. We further estimate that a mind-boggling 120,000 to 140,000 birds are being slaughtered in Nagaland every year during their passage through the state."

This is probably the single largest congregation of Amur falcons recorded anywhere in the world and it is tragic that they meet such a fate.

It is significant to note that India, as a signatory to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), is duty bound to prevent this massacre, provide safe passage, as well as draw up appropriate action plans for the long-term conservation of this bird. In the recently concluded Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), of which India is the president for the next two years, the importance of CMS in conserving species, and especially in stopping bushmeat hunting, was repeatedly stressed.

In October this year, a group from Conservation India travelled to Doyang Reservoir in Wokha district of Nagaland to check out information that thousands of falcons were being hunted annually on the banks of the Doyang Reservoir during their passage through Nagaland. The trip confirmed our worst fears.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/amur-falcon-massacre.html

Rare Falcons slaughtered in Nagaland?

Rare migratory birds Amur Falcon are being massacred in Nagaland. Large number of these winged guests migrate through the Doyang reservoir in Wokha district of the State between October-November, from Siberia en route their final destination of Somalia, Kenya and South Africa.

During their rest stop in Nagaland, they are killed by the local hunters for their meat or for their live sale. The issue was brought up in the recent meeting of National Board For Wildlife (NBWL) to draw the attention of Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan.

“This visiting congregation of Amur Falcons that fly through Nagaland is the single largest recorded anywhere in the world”, said Dr. Asad Rahmani, noted ornithologist and member of standing committee NBWL and it is sad that they meet with such a fate. Also, it is because of such brutal seasonal hunting sprees, of the migratory birds the Siberian Crane is now locally extinct in India. They are killed on their way to India in other countries, he noted.

Doyang is a rockfill dam and hydroelectric plant on the Doyang River, a tributary of Brahmaputra, run by the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) is about 30 km from Wokha town in Nagaland.  These visiting birds spend the day on the transmission wires, branching out of the power project and  then descend to forested patches along the banks of the reservoir for roosting.

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http://dailypioneer.com/nation/107174-rare-falcons-slaughtered-in-nagaland.html