Dimapur, November 6 : A male Amur falcon, fondly named Enenum, which was tagged with a satellite tracker, was released on Thursday by a team of scientists and experts from the Wildlife Institute of India and MME/Birdlife Hungary.
The event is associated with conservation efforts of the migratory bird in partnership with Union Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change, the Nagaland department of Environment Forest & Climate Change, and the coordinating unit of the UNEP-CMS (Raptors MoU).
Updates from community organizers on Sunday informed in a press release that the team had been in Nagaland since the 26th of October. They have tagged two Amur Falcons in Yaongyimchen of Longleng. The two were named ‘Phom’ and ‘Longleng’ in that order.
In Pangti, under Wokha district, Enenum was the sole tracker-tagged Amur Falcon. ‘Enenum’ is the Lotha name for the species.
About 62 other birds were tagged with rings and released by the scientists. The scientists have been studying and working for conservation of these small aerial raptors by bringing the attention of the world to a small place like Nagaland, the organizers stated. This movement has set an unprecedented example of hunters turning into conservators within a short span of time, the updates stated.
The events have revolved around drawing the attention of the local and international community to the extraordinary assembly of the birds in the forested areas of Doyang reservoir, and the importance of protecting the roosting sites of the migrating populations.
In 2013, three birds named Naga, Pangti and Wokha were tagged. Of the three, only Naga is active and is currently known to be China.
The forests of said area receive an estimated million falcons during October-November every year.
Apart from other forms of recognition that the Pangti village community has received in the past three years included international voices of appreciation. This year, a framed letter of appreciation from the China Birdwatching Society of Beijing, and Wildchild Children’s Society, also in Beijing, were handed over to the people of Pangti by Dr. Suresh Kumar, it was informed.
In the letter, the society appreciated the efforts being put in by the people of Pangti village; the bird lovers thanked them for protecting the Amur Falcons and giving them a safe passage because of which they are able to receive the migratory birds back at their breeding grounds in China.
The Amur Falcons of Wokha district have also found their way in a BBC documentary ‘The Hunt’ narrated by the famous Naturalist David Attenborough, which focuses on prey-predator relationships, the updates stated.
Every year, starting from the last week of October till the third week of November, the roosting sites receive what is believed to be the largest gathering of Amur Falcons in the world.
