Tagged Amur falcons return to India's Nagaland

10 November 2014 Last updated at 09:24


By Amitabha BhattasaliBBC News, Calcutta
Millions of Amur falcons, flying from Mongolia to South Africa, stop in India's Nagaland every year

Two of the three Amur falcons tagged with satellite tracking chips last year have returned to the north-eastern Indian state of Nagaland.

The birds, which come to roost every year during their flight from Mongolia to Africa, are back at Doyang lake.

The return of the chipped birds has given scientists valuable details about their journey to Africa and then back to their homeland in Mongolia.

The falcons travel almost 22,000km (13,670 miles) every year.

Amur falcons are the longest travelling raptors in the world and come to Doyang every year in their millions.

Forest officials say the birds are yet to be located, but satellite data shows their presence in the area.

The two falcons - named Naga and Pangti - have returned to Nagaland almost after a year and even though their location is not known yet, "a small ceremony was organised to mark their return", Nagaland's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests M Lokeswara Rao told the BBC.

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Civil Societies help to protect Amur falcons in Nagaland

Dimapur, October 16 (MExN): Wild Flowers, a development and conservation group of CCER has urged civil societies of Nagaland providing protection to Amur Falcons arriving Doyang in Nagaland a bordering areas of Assam to be keep on their initiative of protection and conservation.

Mubina Akhtar, one of the Director of the group said since the birds have arrived and every concerned organisations and appropriate authorities must work hard for next one month. Akhtar said that Amur Falcons had arrived and were sighted from October 1. Initially, around 50-60 birds were sighted but the numbers have gone up to a couple of thousands now. More are expected to arrive. Following reports about the falcons being hunted in large numbers last year, a Rapid Action Project (RAP) was undertaken by the Natural Nagas and WTI with the help of local civil societies and to assist the state Forest Department in their endeavour to protect them. Wild Flowers has appreciated Naga civil societies for its initiative to save the bird appeals Naga people to keep on the protection measures for free passage of the Amur falcon birds on their route to Africa.

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Tripartite MoU singed to save Amur Falcons

Village council members of Pangti, Asshaa and Sungro villages, under Wokha have signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Wokha-based NGO Natural Nagas to assist Nagaland forest department to stop wide-scale hunt of Amur Falcons in Doyang Reservoir.

In a press release, WTI’s Awareness for Conservation assistant manager Subhamoy Bhattacharjee stated that with mass annual hunt potentially threatening the species, a resolution was cleared by the villages to penalize offenders up to five thousand rupees this year onwards.

The tri-partite MoU seeks to start awareness generation through a targeted campaign, including the use of signage, collaterals, wildlife films etc.

MoU pledged to engage locals in protecting Amur Falcons: formulating watch squads to help protect Amur falcon roosting or foraging sites and watch tower construction to promote bird watching.

It was also agreed to formulate laws and guidelines in accordance with the VCMs to prohibit hunting and poaching of Amur falcons and help mitigate human-wildlife conflicts.

Tens of thousands of Amur Falcons were reportedly hunted annually for their meat in the district, as they crossed the region en route to Africa from Siberia.

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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